Jose Bautista returns to the Blue Jays after testing free agency

By Chris Bahr
Published

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.