Speculation about Jose Bautista ultimately signing a one-year deal is growing throughout the industry, writes Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith. The Blue Jays were recently said to be in active talks with Bautista, and Nicholson-Smith notes that he spoke with execs from two other clubs that considered Bautista the exact type of player that could end up as a significant bargain if he’s had on a one-year pact. Nicholson-Smith adds that there’s still a belief in the industry that Toronto would be perfectly happy to let Bautista depart, sign elsewhere, and collect a compensatory draft pick. However, the Jays do still need two corner outfielders, and Bautista is a known commodity among the fans, in the clubhouse and on the field for Toronto.
A few more notes on the free-agent market…
- Nicholson-Smith also reports that the Blue Jays are continuing to hunt for a backup catcher after seeing one target, Bobby Wilson, sign a minor league contract with the Dodgers. Per Nicholson-Smith, the Blue Jays wanted to sign the 33-year-old Wilson, but he elected to sign with the Dodgers after Toronto declined to offer his camp any assurances that additional catchers would not be pursued. Among the options still on the market are Chris Iannetta, Nick Hundley, Kurt Suzuki and Jarrod Saltalamacchia, to name a few.
- The Braves are still open to adding a bench bat despite having a full 40-man roster at the moment, and both Kelly Johnson and Jeff Francoeur are possibilities, per David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link). This would mark the third straight year in which the Braves signed Johnson as a free agent and his fourth overall stint with the team that originally drafted him, if an agreement is ultimately reached. It’d also represent the third stint with the Braves for Francoeur and the second consecutive offseason in which he inked a deal with Atlanta.
- The Tigers are known to be on the lookout for some help in center field, but they didn’t show interest in Ben Revere before he signed with the Angels and haven’t had any serious discussions with Austin Jackson about a return to Detroit, reports MLB.com’s Jason Beck. Last week, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reported that the Tigers are looking for a center field option that would cost around $2MM. Jackson could fit that bill after missing the last three months of the 2016 season with a knee injury, though Beck’s report paints that as unlikely. Last week, I took a look at a few other options the Tigers could consider as well.
- Any further additions made by the Indians this winter seem likely to be low-cost in nature following the signing of Edwin Encarnacion. Cleveland GM Mike Chernoff implied to Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon-Journal that the team’s remaining resources are somewhat limited. “Obviously with a commitment like this, we couldn’t bring either [Mike Napoli] or [Rajai Davis] back at the dollars they would have cost,” said Chernoff. “Raj gave us a huge amount last year, too. You could see him potentially being a fit again with the role he had last year. I think we have a lot of internal pieces that can fill some of those spots.” Davis signed a one-year, $6MM deal with Oakland last week, so Chernoff’s suggestion that he was too expensive could well signal that any final additions will be rather minimal in nature. As Lewis further notes, that could lead to a bit less depth in the outfield and on other areas of the roster than Cleveland brass would otherwise prefer.
he won’t sign until June if he doesn’t sign a 1 year deal… No one wants a declining player who will at best hit .230 with decent pop , id rather sign chris carter over him .
Yeah, that five-year $150 million payday is looking further and further away isn’t it? Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy
Boy I’m sure glad you’re not the GM of my favourite team. Signing a one-dimensional all-or-nothing hitter like Carter who will strike out 200 times per year over a guy with an OPS consistently over .800 despite the low batting average is completely stupid.
Ya even if he hits .230 (which he won’t again), he’ll still walk 100 plus times with at least 20 homers.
Rockies could snag him..they already blew the #11 overall on Ian Desmond to man first sack…could use Bautista over there. Bautista could then possibly prove that he’s a decent 1B going into the next offseason when someone might want to sign him as a 1B/DH type.
I just dont see many teams blowing a pick for one year of Bautista. Maybe a team like the A’s if they feel the return on a deadline trade outweighs the draft pick. 36 and declining…should have worked out a reasonable extension ith Toronto a long time ago. He or his agency was blowing smoke up his jock strap.
where would Desmond play
It’d free them to trade a middle infielder or an outfielder for pitching….Desmond can move back to a position where his offense is more valuable. Maybe they just keep him there….and if they extend CarGo…they can eventually move him in to 1B.
I listened to that interview with Jeff Blair, for information purposes only they said any deal with th Jays for Cutch would have to include Vladdy Guerro Jr.
So if that’s your alternative you might as well pony up with Bautista and punt that pick you would of received.
Yeah I really don’t want to see Vladdy Jr dealt. He may only be 17 but he’s already showing an advanced approach at the plate with loads of power potential.
And if he’s only a 1st baseman he’s going to have to crush at every level to look viable. His body is already getting too big.
He was HUGE….has he lost weight at all? I havent seen him for awhile. He looked like Prince Fielder already
Actually he’s played some third base and they said he looked pretty decent there
He has a lot of years to go and if he loses a step or two in that type the only other place is 1B. I’m betting he ends up there if he gets to the big leagues.
He’s got a big bat, but he has no clear position, he’s a future 1B/DH type. It’s hard to imagine him lasting at 3B, but he’s got the Guerro pedigree so I’m sure he’s being overvalued.
I’m guessing you don’t value obp whatsoever if you’d rather have Chris carter over Jose
go back to your fantasy team…
Instead of the Tigers only being able to afford 2 million for a centerfielder, another point of view would be that they can’t afford Cabrera, Upton and to an extent Verlander…2 million? Seriously?
Ilich just needs to sell a few more pizzas, that’s all.
Im doing what I can for Ilitch…man I can only get into so much Hot N Ready.
2 million? In 2017? WTF? C’mon Tigers
Have you looked closely at whats available in FA for CF? $2MM is an overpay.
I’d rather be looking for a cheap replacement for Maybin than a replacement for Cabrera, Upton or Verlander in this market. They are doing it the right way. They just haven’t gotten much luck and haven’t gotten hot at the right time.
Why not take a flyer on a reunion with Jackson.. Not like the tigers will be big contenders in that division this year anyway
My Jays can’t lose both Edwin and Joey. I say give him 5 years $150 mill with an opt out during the 4th year
crazy
Talk about bidding against themselves! Wow
Are you out of your mind!! Please No.
This is sarcasm, right?
You obviously don’t watch baseball that much That would be a horrible idea. 1 year max
Lots of broken sarcasm detectors here.
Or a bad attempt at sarcasm (if it is indeed sarcasm).
umm, is this sarcasm?? they could prob get him for 5 years and 10 million
No, don’t risk it, offer him 10-300
This was so good that it overloaded many sarcasm detectors.
Bautista for one year makes loads of sense for the Jays, doubly so if they add another OF as well and Jose rotates between RF, 1st and DH.
As for a backup C, I still think Navarro profiles best as both a good backup C and strong insurance against a potential Martin injury. Navarro may not be good defensively but he’s very familiar with the staff(which is a plus) and calls a decent game.
Totally agree, sign Navarro! He will be a good option off the bench too.
It doesn’t really matter how good a game you call if you can’t receive. He torpedo’d many of the White Sox pitchers last year with his awful presentation of the strike zone.
He’d just be a back up, if Martin is healthy he’s only gonna play 35 games
What indications are there that Martin will be healthy? He’s a year older and has battled injuries much of the past two years. You might want him to play ~130 games but that’s an awfully hard benchmark to reach.
They wanna take most of the workload off Martin these next few years though, he’ll play the least he has in awhile this year you’d think
@SuperSinker
Navarro was bad for the ChiSox no doubt but I like his track record in TO. He’s never been a good(or even average) framer but his lone full year as a starter in TO in 2014, he was solid if unspectacular. He was key to Stroman’s initial success and he is widely praised for Marco Estrada’s emergence in 2015.
Like I said, he has a good familiarity that strangely defies the defensive metrics and leads to good results with the Jays rotation.
Chris Ianetta would be a good fit for the Jay’s if they are looking for someone to strikeout with runners on base in key situations.
They already have a bunch of those types. Ianetta would fit in perfectly. 🙂
Can’t be worse than thole
I think a lot of it has to do with Brantley. If Brantley comes back healthy, we’re not in too bad of shape with the OF. Brantley, Almonte, Chisenhall, Guyer, Naquin, potentially Zimmer. Ramirez could play a passable OF as well. It isn’t ideal, but I think we’ll be fine.
Yandy Diaz will likely play some outfield during the season as well. Agree we will be fine.
Exactly. And with Yandy Diaz also at AAA, the Tribe is just fine.
I really hope the Braves resign Johnson so they can trade him to the Mets again this summer.
I know my mom is hoping they re-sign Frenchy. She’s always been a fan of his.
I’ll take a wild guess and say she’s a fan not because of his on field play. 😉
Tigers NEED to sign Desmond Jennings
Do you know if he’s even healthy enough to play the OF, let alone CF? Last seen, putting him in CF would not be wise. What the Tigers NEED is a CF that has range and can go get the ball.
Bautista played some solid years for a reasonable salary, underpaid actually! You don’t need to go crazy and give him the farm, but would be nice to give him a couple years…2/30 mil. Show him we care a little in TO!
But when he gave a ridiculous price of $150M, you almost want to see him get penny pinched for being so greedy. He was the guy they wanted to retain over Edwin last offseason and they apparently were willing to give him a Cespedes type contract.
Did he actually say it though? I thought all he would say was that he wanted to get paid? He never actually came out and said a number to the media, if my memory is correct.
It’s true he said those reports were false.
I don’t believe he outright said it but many respected Jays journalists with high ranking sources did confirm the 5/$150 back in Spring, which was Jose’s demand to not test FA.
It was an obviously outlandish number that clearly reflected, as you note, his desire to test FA next offseason. It seems that the 150 number bothered a lot of people. Would he have been better served to just say that he was unwilling to consider an extension, rather than throwing out a ridiculous number?
Matt Holliday has much better career numbers, same age, some injury issues like Bautista, no draft pick comp. he got 13 million, one year, Bautista needs to wake up.
Jays should trade for Bruce and include Travis d or plawecki (spelling?) for catcher. Give up some prospects, Pompey, and pay for Bruce’s contract.
Bruce isn’t good, D’Arnaud is constantly hurt and Plawecki looks like a backup offensively.
Nothing that really improves their chances.
How about a trade involving the tigers/mets
Tigers get: lagares
Mets get: Justin Wilson
Mets sign Austin Jackson 1yr / 3 mil to play against lhp because they will be starting cespedas/grandy/conforto most days.
Solves Detroit’s cf problem and gives the mets the lefty arm in the bullpen
thoughts?
I personally like it, because I always like trades that full needs for both clubs, but I don’t think the mets want to give up on lagares yet with his extension still kind of expensive if he’s just a 4th OF and I’m unsure it would accomplish Detroits goal of shaving payroll.
A lefty reliever like Wilson is worth more than Lagares, if you have been following this years FA’s. I think Detroit can do better for Wilson.
the mets should just sign kelly johnson
If a team signs Bautista for a year, can they extend him a QO next year? Suppose it doesn’t matter as much next year with the CBA changing. It might make sense for him to take a one year deal and go back to the market when he doesn’t have the existing draft pick hanging over him.
Yes they can. The problem arises with the fact that the team signing him this year would have to give up the pick to have him for 1 year. It makes some sense, i guess, for teams that have a protected pick or have already lost their first round pick, but that limits his market.
Don’t think this is true. I thought it was limited to one?
twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/80416839839766937…
i thought that would apply starting with the new cba onward. Perhaps you are correct tho, my mistake.
No they can only be extended a QO one time. So whoever signs him looses the pick and gets no compensation next year.
Braves gotta sign Kelly Johnson so they can trade him to the mets again
Ok so my response to each point in the article
1.) Blue Jays purchased the contract of AJ Jiminez who is out of options, in November. As of now his main competitor is Ohlman. I think signing a guy to a minor league deal would be fine as a fallback but I would like to see Jimenez or Ohlman get a chance.
2.) The Tigers should snag either Jennings or Jackson or just live with Gose and hope it clicks. Theyre not really playing for anything this year.
Dont spend the $2 million- just go NRI.
3.) Braves have S-Rod and Jace. No need for another second baseman. Come mid-2017, Markaikas is traded, S-Rod moves to the Outfield and Albies replaces Peterson who becomes a solid utility player. Rodriguez could be traded offseason or next deadline due to 2-year deal. Plouffe makes more sense to compliment Garcia at third. Highest corner INF in the minors is Balbino Fuenmayor (to my knowledge). While he has power, he’s more of a preform to get a call-up as opposed to wait for injury type guy.
Fuenmayor is a 1B all the way I’m pretty sure.
You need a better insurance policy than Jimenez, how bad would that be for the jays if Martin got hurt? I would like the Jays to resign Navarro
Whatever deal the Tigers make, Tiger fans are not going to like it.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player fall off in free agency like Bautista. Maybe Cruz, but he was coming off a PED suspension.
I think Bautista has 2 very good years left in him, the question for the Jays is price. They didn’t want to sign him at the qualifying price rate so that means 15 mill max for the Jays. With the market the way it is, Bautista will play eventually somewhere and get paid very well. Even is he has to wait through spring training, because it is evitable that injuries happen and team plans fall apart and a club is going to need a slugger like him. 2 years 15/m per year.
Matt Holliday got a 13 million one year deal, same age, same type player, his career stats are actually much better than Bautista.
Lots of power threats not helped market
Really could be one corner outfielder if the Jays go with Upton/Pillar/Carrera. Mind you it would be nice to see a bit of an upgrade over Carrera.
Carrera at least brings something with the bat. I would like to see an upgrade over Upton, he’s basically the black Colby Rasmus
With Carrera and Upton in the outfield, the Jays are not playoff bound. They are complimentary pieces, albeit good ones. We need an very good to elite player at one of the corners in the outfield, at least 1 more quality reliever, and a top of the rotation starter beyond the current rotation and prospects.
Dodgers should make a run at him with a one year deal. Put him in LF.
It looks like the Braves are dumpster diving again!