Blue Jays and Bautista Agree On 1-Year Deal

By David Conde
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Updated: January 18, 2017

JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES

The wait is finally over as Jose Bautista will return to the Toronto Blue Jays for one year. The make up of the deal also calls for a mutual option for 2018 which if picked up can keep him in the jays uniform through 2019.

The Jays and their power hitting outfielder reached a deal on Tuesday afternoon that is reported to be worth $18 million. Bautista declined a $17.2 million qualifying offer and opted for free agency.

As the Jays explored several options to replace him, at the end of the day, he was the best hitter on the market, especially after missing out on bringing back Edwin Encarnacion to signed with the Cleveland Indians.

For the past nine years Bautista has enjoyed amazing offensive seasons in Canada, but he hit his lowest output in home runs (22) in 2016 since 2009.

Overall, he has 192 doubles, 265 home runs, 701 RBI’s, 50 stolen bases, 719 walks and a .261 bating average in his time in Toronto.

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David is the Founder and Executive Editor of Legends On Deck®. He was a Senior Editor for MetsMerizedOnline, MetsMinors.net and Contributor for Hardballchat.com. David's idea for Legends on Deck is to be a site where passionate fans of the game have a place to read about their favorite baseball teams. The site is also for people who have a talent to write or even take photographs and need a platform to share their work. The passion of following the Minor Leagues can be seen all over the site as the players journey's are what drives the LOD team to share their content. David's passion is making available a site that people can have fun sharing and reading. You can also reach out to David at daconde24@gmail.com