Jose Bautista may have entered the free-agent waters thinking they would take him to a better, richer harbor. Instead, they've pushed him right back where he came from.
And that's not so bad either.
A move that has seemed inevitable finally came to fruition Tuesday. Bautista is re-signing with the Toronto Blue Jays on a deal that, as reported by Steve Phillips for MLB Network Radio, will pay him at least $18 million and perhaps as much as $60 million:
Steve Phillips reports Bautista's deal is a 1 year 18 million with mutual options with incentives maxing out at 3 year 60 million #BlueJays
— MLB Network Radio (@MLBNetworkRadio) January 17, 2017
Since mutual options are rarely ever exercised, however, it's likely this deal will end up costing the Blue Jays just the $18 million guarantee.