Let’s not forget that at spring training in 2016 Bautista was asking for a five year deal worth around $100 million and was coming off a 40 HR season as well.

This signing might be along the lines that he under performed last season had several injuries, dropping his market value for all clubs.

Last September he was offered a qualifying deal by the Jay’s worth $17.2 million deal, which he rejected as he was wanting a three-year deal.

It took a while, but the long expected wait if finally over and given the fact he was indeed looking to score a home run, he didn’t do all that bad signing with the Jays.

We are hearing that the signing is worth $18 million for the 2017 season on a  one-year contract, but he could earn much more.

This all depends on how well the Jay’s do getting “bum’s” in the seats at Rogers Center, so the end result it’s called an “Attendance Bonus”.

If he expects to see any of the bonus money the Jay’s will have to attract more fans than they did last season as the total attendance in 2016 was 3,392,099, which was an increase of 600,000 from the 2015 season.

The bonus is some-what similar to the one that Encarnacion signed with the Indians earlier in the month and it’s interesting to note that these are normally saved or reserved for veteran players in the league.

I hear that these date back to the 1930’s, but were more recently used for signings of Johnny Damon with the Ray’s in 2011 and Ken Griffey Jr. with the Mariners in 2009.

Last season Bautista hit .234, managed 22 HR’s with an .817 OPS in a total of only 116 games, so given these numbers we can only assume that Bautista is looking to improve in all areas of his game.

For those living in Vancouver and surrounding area, don’t forget to catch a game at the “Nat” with the Vancouver Canadians – Single “A” farm team for Toronto