Blue Jays Spring Training Day One: The Circus Has Arrived!

Pitchers and catchers report. Music to my ears.

Well, kind of. Generally speaking it means spring is getting close, but not quite there yet. It's kind of a tease. Is it really exciting hearing about how great R.A. Dickey felt after playing catch with Josh Thole? No. Is it really that exciting watching videos of Marcus Stroman doing PFP? No. All the first day of spring training really means is that baseball is almost around the corner.

Well, not this year. There was a lot more to Day One this time around than the flood of photos on twitter of every single one of the Blue Jays pitchers throwing 25 pitches off the mound at about 60% effort. A full blown circus broke out when some reporters decided it was a good idea to ask Jose Bautista about his contract status.

Bautista stated that he and his representatives gave the Blue Jays management, in no uncertain terms, exactly the contract length and money that would be required for him to sign an extension with the Blue Jays, and that those numbers were not negotiable. He went on to state that this meeting took place roughly two weeks ago, presumably when Bautista was in Toronto for the NBA All-Star Game, and that he had not spoken to management about it since. He talked about home town discounts, and budgets, and basically took aim at ownership, challenging them to meet his terms.

In essence, he gave them an ultimatum.

Now I would like to say that even though I've never really liked Bautista as a player, mostly due to his childish antics every time he is called out on strikes and his seemingly arrogant attitude, I do have a lot of respect not only for his skills on the field (if I had a cannon for an arm like his ...) but also because of his smarts on and off the field. He's very involved in the player's union, and when you think about all the endorsement money he's bringing in, it's obvious he is smart and has surrounded himself with smart people. He knows the game and more importantly he knows the business. I have no problem with a smart guy like him sitting down and crunching some numbers, figuring out precisely what he believes he is worth, and I have no doubt that he consulted with people who could corroborate his conclusions. This could be his only chance to go to free agency, so I don't blame him for a second for trying to maximize his return. I don't have a problem with him taking those numbers to Blue Jays management and saying take it or leave it.

The problem I have is his going to the media. Yes, some reporter asked the question, but he didn't have to give all the gory details about what had transpired between himself and management. He easily could have given the cliche "We talked about an extension and had a very good discussion about it, but we aren't really close to anything right now" (you know, the answer that no one wants to hear), but he didn't, he chose to get right into details. Remember how I said Bautista is very smart? That was not a mistake on his part. We can't be certain of his motives, but from my perspective as a fan it seems to me like he's trying to cast ownership as the bad guy here.

I'm 100% convinced that if management met his demands (whatever they may be) tomorrow, he would sign a contract, but I'm also certain that those demands are not something the Blue Jays are going to jump at. I'm sure Bautista knows this, afterall he has been with this organization for a long time and knows how they operate. So now, at season's end, he can shrug his shoulders, say to the fans "Hey I tried. I told management what they needed to do and they chose not to do it", and waltz off into unrestricted free agency where you know someone is going to give him the 5 year $125-$150 million contract I suspect he is looking for, emphasis on suspect. I don't know what he asked for, and I won't pretend, that's just what I think he probably asked for.

And it's working. Peruse message boards, twitter, comment sections and you'll see scores of fans screaming "PAY THE MAN!!!". Like I said, he's a smart guy.

Oh, and then later in the day there was the trade for Jay Bruce that got everyone all riled up and debating about whether he was actually an upgrade over Michael Saunders, only to have the trade fall through. Yeah, that one was kind of weird.

All in all, it was a very eventful and bizarre opening day to Spring Training. I wonder if it's a sign of things to come.

-matt