A young fan hands Toronto Blue Jays' Jose Bautista a baseball to sign during a Blue Jays winter tour event in Toronto on Saturday, January 21, 2017.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Marcus Stroman snuck down to the bowels of the Rogers Centre on Saturday afternoon after signing autographs for fans upstairs. He wanted to be there for Jose Bautista's welcoming news conference.
As Bautista fielded questions from reporters, the young right-handed pitcher sat, mostly quietly, in the back row. Afterwards, he scurried up to the front of the room to give Bautista a bear hug.
Toronto's clubhouse leader has returned.
Bautista, who signed an $18.5-million, one-year deal with the team last Tuesday that includes mutual options for more years, said he's happy to be back – even if it means he didn't get the long-term contract or the lucrative pay day he was said to have asked the Blue Jays for last spring training.
"I had other opportunities and other options but I wanted to be back here so here I am," Bautista said.
"Rumours are rumours and everybody would like to be in a long-term deal but you get what you can get," he added. "The most important thing is being happy where you are and I'm happy I'm where I want to be."
Bautista's agent, Jay Alou, said he had fielded offers from other teams interested in the right-handed power hitter.
"This is where he wanted to be," Alou said.
Bautista's free-agent stock was likely hurt by his rejection of Toronto's $17.2-million qualifying offer last fall, which meant the Blue Jays would receive a compensatory draft pick from a team that signed him. Concerns about the 36-year-old right-fielder's ability to play defence on a regular basis couldn't have helped his cause either.
Bautista, who hit 22 homers and had 69 RBIs in just 116 games in an injury-slowed 2016 season, said he's not paying attention to that criticism.
"I'll just go out there and play and I'll see what happens," he said. "I'll let that take care of itself."
Bautista rose to prominence with the Blue Jays after bouncing around from team to team and struggling over the first four years of his MLB career. He had a breakout season with Toronto in 2010, hitting 54 homers with 124 RBIs to make a name for himself as one of the game's top sluggers.
He was also one of the driving forces behind the Blue Jays' return to the post-season in 2015 after a 22-year-long playoff drought. That success on the field was one of the main reasons he wanted to re-sign with Toronto.
"I wanted to be here because I enjoyed success here, I've been here a long time," Bautista said. "This market, this city, this country, you know, wherever you play or live for 10 years almost it ends up becoming a part of you so those were the main reasons I wanted to be back and nothing else.
"Also because we have a great team and we're capable of winning, we have a great fan base that's extremely supportive, among the best in all sports ... All those things, along with the fact that I've been here a long time, makes Toronto a desirable place to stay."
Bautista also spoke of the bond he'd formed with his teammates over the years, describing it as "something you can't replace."
"It's one of those things about the sport that transcends long after your playing days are over," he said. "My relationship with all those guys is extremely important and I'm happy to share the locker-room with those guys and continue to go to battle with them every single day."
While the Blue Jays lost out on their other top free-agent slugger Edwin Encarnacion – he signed a $60-million, three-year deal with Cleveland earlier this month – Bautista expects Toronto to be a post-season contender for a third straight year.
Bautista said he'd be willing to play other positions, such as first base, or bat leadoff again if that would help Toronto's chances. He also praised new first baseman/DH Kendrys Morales, who Toronto signed early in the off-season.
"Some of our opponents have gotten much better and I feel like we are making moves that are making us a contender as well," Bautista said. "We did lose out on Edwin, he's one of the best hitters in the game and I wish him the best. He's a great teammate while I played with him but now we're playing against him. We all have to accept that and move on but we have a very capable replacement in Kendrys Morales and hopefully he has the type of year he's capable of having.
"As a unit, we can always play better baseball. Our pitching is strong and our defence is great so we're still up there amongst the best in the American League."