My name is Craig and I am a Jays fan...time for another AA meeting here folks...by now you know our AA meetings are to look at the work of 2nd year Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos...
The latest move is one that seems to have real risk and reward involved...that is the long term signing of Jose Bautista...5 years...$8 million in 2011...$14 million for '12, '13, '14, and '15 with a $14 million Club option in 2016...
The risk aspect is clear...30 years old now with only 1 full great MLB season under his belt...But it is the reward part that has me excited...
I like the idea of signing Bautista to a long term deal and making him the face of the Franchise...
In the short term this is a Jays team that lost 350 runs this offseason by having Vernon Wells, John Buck, Lyle Overbay, Fred Lewis all change addresses...the names replacing that O are Corey Patterson, Rajai Davis, Juan Rivera, Scott Podsednik (minor league deal with invite to Spring Training) and of course rookie C J.P. Arencebia, and hopefully a healthy Travis Snider...we see potential here for a lot of lost O so re-upping with a slugger like Bautista makes sense to me...
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If you are the Jays you are sure to lose the Arbitration with Bautista...Jays offer for 2011 was $7+ million while Jose and his Reps asked for $10+ million...as per the rule the Arbitrator can only choose one of those or the other...cannot come up with a nice and peaceful in-between #...the season turned in by Jose in 2010 was sure to have him receive in the double-digit millions...
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I love having the 2011 # at $8 million...the trade offers for Bautista in the last several months have been there so even if the Jays do one day trade Bautista they will have some other team absorb the remaining contract at $14 million per...AA already set a lofty precedent here by getting a team to absorb approx $81 million of Vernon Wells' albatross contract
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Toronto has long been a city where Latin players can really thrive...dating back to the 80's when Epy Guerrero was bringing the Jays Latin talent like Tony Fernandez, George Bell, Carlos Delgado etc...Looking at the Jays now the likes of Bautista, plus guys like SS Adeiny Hechavarria and SS Yunel Escobar are key parts of the future of this Franchise and Bautista has already shown a leadership approach with these guys, and the other young talent too...AA was very clear that while he was deciding wether or not to pull the trigger on the trade to bring the seemingly troubled Escobar to the T-Dot that it was Bautista who was instrumental insisting he would be a role model and leader for Escobar to put him/keep him on the right "Team First" track...just look at the quotes from his teammates from earlier today upon hearing the Bautista contract...Jose was referred to as a "winner" and players noticed that this organization is ready and willing to reward performance
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I don't worry at all that 2010 was a fluke season...It was the best season we have ever seen from a Jays player (check the Oct 9, 2010 blog entry I did on Jose Bautista's 2010 historic season... http://craigballard77.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-name-is-craig-ballard-and-i-am-jays.html ) We need to remember it was the September of 2009 where Bautista really began to understand his swing...understand his mechanics...understand how to square up a pitch consistently...he took that new found knowledge to Spring Training in 2010 and just continued to square up pitch after pitch...Jays Hitting Coach Dwayne Murphy has often commented on these things since Jose's breakthrough in September 2009 (Side Note - in Sept 2010 Edwin Encarnacion really caught fire...could he be the Jose Bautista of 2011 and really find his groove?!?!)
I personally see a lot more in the REWARD category over the RISK category with Jose Bautista and this new contract...time will tell of course...we likely felt good about the Wells signing at the time, same as Eric Hinske's contract...Adam Lind was sketchy in 2010 and he has a long term deal...Carlos Delgado had a contract that we would have liked at the time, but ended up handicapping the Jays financially for years...and of course at the time Alex Rios signed his extension a few years ago we were pleased, only to see him regress into a bum as a Jay...Erik Hanson...Randy Myers...Frank Thomas...etc...we have seen contracts not work out before, but we know around here in AA we trust and he really seems to love this signing and I see why...
Drop me a line with your thoughts...follow me on Twitter too @craigballard77 ...craig.ballard@hotmail.com
