Toronto Blue Jays feel confident about Jose Bautista
If there’s one thing the Toronto Blue Jays will be looking back on in the coming weeks, it will be Jose Bautista’s contributions to the club. The Dominican Republic player recently signed a long-term contract with the Blue Jays and the club feels confident
he will repay their faith through his performances in the 2011 regular season.
Fans have gone ahead to express disappointment over the deal as finances have been strained and the club’s hold over expenditures needs to be firm. The general manager of the club, Alex Anthopoulos, was always going to be in a sticky situation when he pushed
Bautista to sign a five-year deal worth $65 million. The contract marks the biggest deal to come out of Alex’s reserves but he has a particular reason for getting the deal done.
Anthopoulos is confident the rewards from playing Bautista on the plate and in the field will outweigh the risks.
Anthopoulos told reporters, "The easy thing for me would have been to sit back and wait. If he didn't perform, nobody could criticize me for that. If he does perform, people could certainly make excuses for me and say, 'Well, how do you pay him after one
(good) year?'
He added, "That's the easy way out. If I ultimately believe in the player, and I ultimately believe in the performance, and that he's going to be a very good player for us ... then that's my job irrespective of the criticism. The risks (are) part of it,
but that's part of what I do."
Bautista has a unique track record and it comes as no surprise that he is known as a volatile player. Before 2010, the player never scored above 16 home runs in any season. Surprisingly enough, Jose Bautista went out to punish pitchers in 2010 as he smashed
54 home runs during the year. His batting average was .260 and he drove in 124 runs for the club.
The player is being compared to Dan Uggla, who recently signed a $62 million deal with the Atlanta Braves. Though his batting standards are a lot higher than Bautista, the Blue Jays man does hold a big fielding advantage. Will Anthopoulos’ decision make
sense in the future? We’ll have to wait for the season to start in April to find out.
Tags: