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On this day 14 years ago: José Bautista signs five-year extension
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Photo credit: Kevin Sousa-USA TODAY Sports
Ryley Delaney
Feb 17, 2025, 13:15 ESTUpdated: Feb 17, 2025, 13:08 EST
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It was on this day 14 years ago that José Bautista signed an extension.
Timely, right? February 17 is Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s self-imposed deadline to sign an extension, as it’s the first day of Spring Training. Well, 14 years ago on Feb. 17, 2011, José Bautista signed a five-year extension worth $65 million.
At the time, it was the second-largest contract ever signed by the Toronto Blue Jays, about $5 million less than the seven-year, $69.8 million deal that Alex Ríos signed nearly three years prior.
Unlike Ríos, who was waived just over a year later, Bautista became a Blue Jays legend. Bautista was drafted in the 20th round of the 2000 draft and bounced around the league for the first nine seasons of his career, eventually landing with the Jays in 2008. His first full season with the team was in 2009 when he hit 13 home runs in 404 plate appearances in his age-28 season.
Up to that point, his career-high was just 16, but in his age 29 season, the Dominican outfielder slashed .260/.378/.617 with 54 home runs in 683 plate appearances for a 6.5 fWAR, earning him the contract extension and MVP votes.
While he hit fewer home runs in 2011 (43), he was arguably even better as Bautista slashed .302/.447/.608 with 43 home runs and a higher BB% (20.2 BB%) than K% (16.9%), giving him a 180 wRC+ and an 8.1 fWAR.
Bautista never hit that productively in his career again, although he was close in 2014 as he slashed .286/.403/.524 with 35 home runs in 673 plate appearances for a 160 wRC+ and a 6.2 fWAR. The most memorable home run in Blue Jays history, at least in my lifetime, came on Oct. 14, 2015, as he hit a massive three-run shot in the do-or-die Game 5 of the American League Division series.
The 2016 season was Bautista’s last as a productive big league, slashing .234/.366/.452 with 22 home runs in 517 plate appearances for a 123 wRC+ and a 1.9 fWAR, down from 40 home runs and a 148 wRC+ the season before. Bautista’s final season with the Jays was in 2017 when he was a below-average hitter, before finishing his season in the National League East in 2018.
Thankfully, Bautista retired as a Blue Jay, signing a one-day contract on Aug. 11, 2023, the day before his name and number went up on the Level of Excellence. Let’s hope that 14 years later, the Blue Jays sign their next franchise legend in Guerrero Jr.
As always, you can follow me on Bluesky @ryleydelaney.bsky.social.
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