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Jose Bautista: “I’d be stupid to leave” Blue Jays

By Kevin Martuscello

Oct 14, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays right fielder Jose Bautista (19) hits a three-run home run against the Texas Rangers in the 7th inning in game five of the ALDS at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Peter Llewellyn-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 14, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays right fielder Jose Bautista (19) hits a three-run home run against the Texas Rangers in the 7th inning in game five of the ALDS at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Peter Llewellyn-USA TODAY Sports /
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Blue Jays’ slugger Jose Bautista wants to stay in Toronto

Toronto Blue Jays right fielder, Jose Bautista, is in the final year of his five-year $65 million deal and will be a free agent after the 2016 season.

During the offseason, Jose Bautista stirred up a little controversy in Canada when stated he would not take a “hometown discount” to stay with the Blue Jays saying, “[A hometwon discount] doesn’t exist. Not in my world. In my eyes, I’ve given this organization a 5-year hometown discount already.”

However, in an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci, Bautista expressed his feelings for the “Six” saying, “I love this city. I’d be stupid to leave.”

Negotiations between the two sides have been put on hold until the upcoming offseason as “Joey Bats” and the Jays focus on building on the success from their previous season in which Toronto advanced to the American League Championship Series, falling to the eventual World Series Champion Kansas City Royals.

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While Bautista has flourished in “The Great White North”, hitting the most home runs in Major League Baseball since 2010 with 238 bombs, the Dominican slugger will turn 36 in October. As previously witnessed in the performance on noted power hitters such as Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard, and Alex Rodriguez, home run totals take a rapid dive on the wrong side of 35.

A Dominican taking a “hometown discount” to stay with a team that calls Canada home may not make sense to anyone with a globe, but the aging Bautista might have to oblige if he wishes to remain in the city he loves.

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