RealGM

Even when his team doesn’t qualify for the playoffs Jose Bautista can usually look forward to plenty of postseason baseball, suiting up for los Tigres de Licey of the Dominican winter league.

The 29-year-old outfielder has seen some winter action in the Dominican every year since turning pro in 2000, but that streak will probably end this winter.

Thirteen games from the end of his most successful season, Bautista leads the majors with 49 home runs, has established career-highs in every major offensive category, and has emerged as a leader of a Blue Jays club that hopes to grow into a contender. The resume he has built this season should earn him big money in arbitration, something the Jays can avoid by offering him a raise this winter.

Either way, Bautista’s $2.4 million salary figures to soar.

But as his pay increases so does his obligation to the Blue Jays, and with so much money at stake Bautista says he’ll probably skip the winter league altogether.

“There’s a lot more at stake and I’d be risking a lot on a personal level and also for the team,” said Bautista, a native of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. “It’s an investment for everybody and it’s a risk everybody takes. It’s not a decision I would get to make on my own.”