Toronto Blue Jays

Jose Bautista returns to the Blue Jays after testing free agency

Published Jan. 17, 2017 3:43 p.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

Chris Bahr

Jose Bautista is staying with the Toronto Blue Jays after all.

https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/821444830882594816

Bautista, 36, rejected the team’s one-year qualifying offer in November that would have paid him $17.2 million in the 2017 season. Instead, he opted to test the free-agent market, which wasn’t as lucrative as he expected.

https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/821455784248823808

Limited to 116 games by injuries last season, Bautista hit .234/.366/.452 with 22 homers, 24 doubles and 69 RBI. In the past nine seasons with the Jays, he has hit .261/.382/.528 with 265 homers and 701 RBI.

He also has swatted six postseason homers with Toronto, including one that resulted in the most famous bat flip of all time:

https://twitter.com/MLB/status/821445308815200257

Bautista will slide back into his right-field spot for Toronto, which avoided losing both of its free-agent sluggers this offseason. First baseman/DH Edwin Encarnacion signed with the Cleveland Indians, and the Blue Jays will replace him with a combination of newcomers Kendrys Morales and Steve Pearce.

share

Get more from Toronto Blue Jays Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

Toronto Blue Jays

Major League Baseball