Jan 18, 2017
The market pushed Bautista back to Blue Jays
Toronto baseball fans can be happy the popular slugger is back with the franchise on a deal that makes sense for both sides, TSN Baseball Insider Steve Phillips writes.
The Toronto Blue Jays started this off-season needing to replace or re-sign three big free agents on their offence.
Edwin Encarnacion opted for fewer years and guaranteed money in Cleveland and has been replaced by Kendrys Morales. Michael Saunders was a fallback option for the Jays and he signed with Philadelphia. It appears he will be replaced by some combination of Steve Pearce, Melvin Upton Jr. and Ezequiel Carrera.
And Jose Bautista is coming home. Seemingly against all odds, Bautista is returning to Toronto.
He wasn’t Plan A, B, C or D for the Jays when the off-season began. The focus from the Jays was on what their right fielder could no longer do instead of what he still had left in the tank.
Bautista didn’t seem to mind initially as he anticipated significant interest from multiple teams. However, the interest never really developed as expected. It certainly had to be frustrating for his camp as the calendar rolled into 2017. It was clear Jose wasn’t going to get the payday he had hoped for.
As the winter progressed and players came off the board, the Blue Jays re-evaluated their options. Bautista and his new market-driven value emerged as the next best option in comparison to others available in trade or via free agency. The market pushed Bautista back to Toronto and the Blue Jays back to Bautista.
The deal struck between the club and their slugger is creative and compassionate. The one-year deal guarantees $18 million and includes mutual options and incentives that can turn the agreement into a three-year deal maxing out at $60 million. It is a nice save by the agent, who can spin the agreement as a $60-million deal, while the team has set up a desirable pay-for-performance structure.
Bautista’s camp can justify rejecting the $17.2 million qualifying offer as he is making more if it is a one-year deal. The team can justify giving him a bit more because they effectively bought a chance to control him for a second and/or third year. It is a win-win.
Now I have to admit that I may not have been as compassionate as the Jays’ front office when it came to paying Bautista more than the qualifying offer. It’s easy to say that when you’re not the one who has to worry about the mental state of the slugger. The reality is the Jays could have won this negotiation, but instead they made it a win-win. I would have made a mistake in this negotiation. The Jays did it right.
Most Jays fans are excited about the Bautista deal. It’s all in the name. They expect that he will be the guy that powers homers over the wall and gets on base at a very high clip. Plus they love his swagger. The fans recognize he declined a bit last year, but most would rather have a guy they know over a guy they don’t, regardless of anticipated performance.
The Jays proclaimed a desire to get younger and more athletic, but the silent proviso was it had to be at the right cost. They considered Dexter Fowler, Adam Eaton, Andrew McCutcheon and Charlie Blackmon, all of whom would have benefited them in age and mobility, but there were no deals to be made.
The fact they re-signed Jose doesn’t mean they aren’t serious about their goals, it just means they couldn’t do everything this off-season.
There is nothing wrong with working a platoon in one outfield spot and at first base. That structure makes the bench that much stronger, which allows John Gibbons in-game flexibility to pinch hit and upgrade his defence when needed.
There is still work to be done for 2017. The Jays need to add bullpen depth and balance. By most accounts they have about $10 million left to spend on the bridge from the starting rotation to Roberto Osuna.
There are a number of quality lefty relievers still on the market, like Boone Logan, Jerry Blevins, Travis Wood, J.P. Howell and Javier Lopez. Plus there are still a few righties on the market, including Greg Holland, Sergio Romo, Trevor Cahill, Joe Blanton and Joe Smith. Toronto can likely get two, maybe three arms from this group.
The Blue Jays are my pick to win the AL East assuming they address the bullpen. They have the deepest rotation in the American League and a dominant young closer. Their defence is strong up the middle and they have an MVP candidate in Josh Donaldson. They have the experience of the past two seasons to fall back upon as well.
It all adds up to 2017 being another fun year for Blue Jays’ fans.
Steve Phillips was general manager of the New York Mets from 1997 through 2003, helping lead the club to a National League championship in 2000 and its first World Series appearance since 1986. His analysis appears each week on TSN.ca, TSN Radio and SportsCentre.