Blue Jays history: Bautista signs a franchise altering extension

Spring Training 2011 felt a little bit different from the ones that had proceeded it. The Toronto Blue Jays, while coming off another year where they missed the postseason, had reason to believe they were heading in the right direction.

They finished 85-77 and had just witnessed the evolution of a journeyman outfielder-turned-superstar when José Bautista exploded with an All-Star campaign, and reset the franchise record for single season home runs by hitting 54 bombs and leading the league in that category.

A day before Bautista and the Blue Jays were set to meet in an arbitration hearing, they instead agreed to a $64 million extension that would keep him in Toronto until 2015, with a team option for 2016. It was a deal that ushered in a new era for the Blue Jays franchise.

Bautista signs a franchise altering extension

Bautista's deal felt like a gamble at the time. He was turning 30 when the deal was signed and many could be forgiven for their skepticism of a guy who seemingly came out of nowhere to have one monster year. MLB history is littered with those types of players, and giving Bautista this kind of money for a franchise that wasn't known to be a high spender at the time, seemed risky.

The deal was set up to pay Bautista $8 million in 2011 and $14 million for every year afterwards, including the option year, a deal that seems like a relative steal knowing what we know now, and considering what players like Kyle Tucker and Bo Bichette just got on the open market. While both are great players, neither Bo nor Tucker have reached the heights Bautista reached in that 2010 season.

And that season was just the beginning for Bautista, who had arguably a better season the following year when he produced an 8.0 bWAR, led the league in home runs again as well as leading the league in walks, slugging, OPS, and OPS+. It was the second year of six straight All-Star appearances and he finished third in MVP voting.

Over the next two years he dealt with a couple of injuries but still put up great numbers when he was healthy and in 2015 he was one of the leaders in the Blue Jays return to the postseason. He was worth 4.8 bWAR, hit 40 home runs and had an OPS of .913 as the Blue Jays won the AL East for the first time since 1993. He was then responsible for one of the biggest post-season moments in franchise history when he hit a go ahead three-run home run in Game Five of the ALDS against the Texas Rangers, leading the Blue Jays to the ALCS, losing in six games to the Kansas City Royals.

Bautista wasn't an elite offensive producer when the Blue Jays picked up his for the 2016 season but was still good enough to help the Blue Jays get back to the ALCS, where they lost in five games to Cleveland. That closed the line on his six-year extension, proving to be one of the best investments made by the Blue Jays franchise.

Bautista was worth 29.5 bWAR over the course of that extension with a slash line of .265/.389/.527 with a .916 and 148 OPS+. He hit 195 home runs in 785 games and walked 561 times compared to 563 strikeouts. Those are some absurd numbers for a guy who was in his age 30-35 seasons and for a player that had never hit more than 16 home runs in a single season before getting to Toronto. And it was all made possible thanks to that contract signing on Feb. 17, 2011, providing some optimism for the seasons ahead.