On the day of the Toronto Blue Jays State of the Franchise address, the team's top slugger Jose Bautista joined Cybulski and Company on TSN Radio 1050 to talk baseball and the team.
Bautista addressed his claim that he's been tested by the league an above-average amount of times the past couple of years before talking about his team's chances this upcoming season.
Bautista, who will be featured on the cover of the upcoming MLB 12 The Show, commented at a banquet in the Dominican Republic recently that he had been tested 16 times for performance enhancers over the past two years.
"(16) is an approximate number, and it's hard to keep tabs," Bautista said on TSN 1050. "It has increased in the last two years compared to before but I'm not complaining whatsoever. It's a question that I was asked so I gave an honest answer. It's not in my interest to make it seem like I'm getting picked on."
The increase in drug tests is something that Bautista, who has led the league in home runs the past two years, said hasn't and won't change the way he goes about preparing and playing the game.
"I don't mind it; it's something that is not going to affect my focus and I'm not going to allow it to affect how I play my game," Bautista said. "They are entitled to do whatever they want and test you as many times as they want. If I get picked to be tested a million times, that's fine with me."
Cybulski also asked Bautista if he thought the Blue Jays had done enough to build on the momentum gained from last season and become contenders in the strong AL East.
"I think every team that doesn't win the World Series has a way to get better and a big part of why I signed a long-term deal with the Jays is because I trust (Jays general manager) Alex Anthopoulos and the ownership in Toronto that they're going to make this team a contender for a number of years."
Bautista said he's on board with Anthopoulos' long-term plan and he wasn't disappointed the Jays didn't make a big splash in the free agent market this off-season.
"I don't think they're going to (build the team) in a way that we compete for one year and then maybe fall off the face of the earth. I think they want to build a sustainable winner for a number of years. I'm excited about how our team is shaping up and the additions we've made in the last season and this off-season. I think we're going to be better this year."
The Jays didn't land any of the big free agents this off-season, but what they did do was take steps to significantly upgrade their bullpen.
"Our bullpen is obviously much better and everybody knows that was probably our biggest weakness last year. With our bullpen being as good as it looks on paper, that has me really excited."
"If our guys pitch the way they're capable of pitching then yes, we have a very good chance of making the playoffs and from there, who knows. The World Series is obviously the goal so that's what we're hoping for."
