Update:
Jose Bautista on report he asked for $150m over five years: "False." #BlueJays
— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) February 23, 2016
So ummm nothing to see here...move along.
Or maybe not....if you were Jose and you saw the reaction to this, would you say 'Yep, that's what I asked" or would you say 'No that's not right'?
Rick Westhead, at TSN.ca tells us that the number that Jose Bautista gave the Blue Jays was $150 million over 5 years. It doesn't say how Westhead found this out, so I have no idea if it is true or not, but....
Sorry Jose, I love you and all, but I wouldn't pay $30 million a year for the your age 36 to 40 seasons. That's just too much. At some point, in the next few years, he's going to have to be moved out of right field, and by 38 or so, I'd think you'd be looking at him as a full time DH.
I really think the world of Jose, but there is no player in baseball that I would sign 'at any cost'. I hope he'll decide to actually negotiate with the team, because, if that's his line in the sand, I'd have to say he's gone.
I agree that Jose has been underpaid, over the length of his last contract, not that I think he gave the team a 'hometown discount", I just think he signed at the wrong time. He should have played one more year and then looked for a long term contract. Then he would have been able to get more money.
I'm ok with him asking for a ridicules amount of money. I'd do the same if I could, but I'd be willing to negotiate to something reasonable after. I'm hoping Jose will too.
Over at MLB Daily Dish, they did a poll "How much would you paid Jose Bautista?" and the highest figure in their poll is 5 years and $120 million and only 15% of readers picked that choice. Let's have our own poll.
Minor Leaguer has an idea:
Maybe Jose Bautista put his request in Canadian dollars!
— Minor Leaguer (@Minor_Leaguer) February 23, 2016
With our luck, by the time the new contract kicked in, the Canadian dollar will have jumped ahead of the US dollar. Maybe he'd take Canadian Tire money?