Jose Bautista will be a free agent at the end of the season, but the Blue Jays slugger hopes to stay with the club that took a chance on him in 2008.
“I love the city,” Bautista told Sports Illustrated. “I’d be stupid to leave.”
Bautista, who tabled extension talks that were rumored in the five-year, $150 million range, finished with an impressive 40 home runs and 114 RBIs last season and is on pace for 34 homers and 113 RBIs this season despite a .237 average.
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Blue Jays fans will welcome Tuesday's comments with open arms but the 35-year-old slugger doubled down on what he said before the season about not giving the Jays a hometown discount.
“I will explore every single option, whether it happens or not with the new regime, to continue to try to stay here,” Bautista told SI. “That being said, I think teams utilize that a lot against players, [seeking] a discount or bargain price, and I think that’s extremely unfair, especially to have your biggest contributors on the field and try to take advantage of the fact that they like it there and negotiate a tougher deal.”
Bautista said in February that hometown discounts don’t exist in his world and that he's already given the Jays a five-year hometown discount already.
Bautista, who has hit above .300 only once in his career, is in the final year of a six-year, $78 million contract and many have speculated that he or teammate and fellow free agent at season's end Edwin Encarnacion would be sought-after replacements for designated hitter David Ortiz in Boston.