Comments on: The Jose Bautista Debates Continue, Despite His Signing

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:13:39 +0000

“Normally, fans of a club are either relieved that their team and star player didn’t go to arbitration when a signing like Jose Bautista‘s occurs.” – I really enjoy your blog, but it is driving me crazy that this sentence doesn’t make any sense. Isn’t an “either” supposed to be followed by an “or”?

By: TheZar

TheZar — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 22:23:20 +0000

The length and amount of that contract is slightly troublesome, but the fact remains that Jose will be a middle of the lineup hitter and has grown into a key veteran leader in the clubhouse.

Hes still only 30, Im pretty sure that he can still mash 25+ homers by the end of his contract. And compared to Werth, this contract is a much easier pill to swallow.

By: James H

James H — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 19:38:23 +0000

I am fine with having Jose for 5 more yrs too, and the money is not my money so I would care less how much he got paid.

But everything AA did is about gathering young, controllable, high upside players causing his peers to call him the “assets collector”. Why all of a sudden deviate from this plan is what puzzle me the most?

As long as this move has no bearing on getting that one or multiple FA player(s) that will help push this team into the playoff, I am ok with it.

By: Stump

Stump — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 17:37:24 +0000

I am on record as saying that AA should re-invest some of the $$ saved on trading Vernon Wells on signing Jose Bautista to a 3 or 4 year term.

5 years, with an option for 6, seems a bit of a stretch, but I am still OK with it. 13 million a season is reasonable enough, but at first glance it seems to me that 10 million a season is all that AA would have had to pay for 5 years. After all,the Bautista camp was only asking 10.5M for 2011, if he went to arbitration.

But upon further review, my thoughts are that AA was entirely convinced that Bautista’s last season production was not a statistical outlier. If he is correct, and Bautista continues to produce 40+ HR’s for the next 3 or 4 seasons, then 13 million a season is a steal, and AA will again have proved that he is an absolute genius.

By: George

George — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 15:37:05 +0000

I have to admit, I honestly thought that they had no intention of signing him long term, and that he would walk or be traded. Instead, AA7 purposely left it to the last minute in order to eliminate all the dicking around that can go into negotiations like this. I certainly agree with you, Matt, that Bombista brings a lot more to the club than his bat, and I am glad he’s sticking around. He’s also been very durable, and he’s not huge, so as long as he puts his work in, his legs should be OK at Roger’s. And $13 million is a very tradeable contract, if some time down the road they needed to trade him for Joe Carter and Robbie Alomar LOL!