“Our policy on one-year deals, if we don’t have one-year deals done by the 1 p.m. deadline, (is that) we would not negotiate a one-year deal,” Anthopoulos said. “If a multi-year deal comes about we certainly could continue to negotiate those, but those are obviously things that we keep private, keep quiet and keep in house. The only one-year deal that we would do right now is in a hearing room.”
That’s a waffle worthy of centre ice at the ACC. There are strong indications that the Jays all along have been intent on reaching agreement with Bautista on a multi-year deal and are using the arbitration hearing merely as fallback, knowing that they have him for 2011 no matter what.
Clues? When Anthopoulos was asked what the demand from agent Bean Stringfellow was, the GM said he had no idea. He would have to wait to see. When asked what the negative fallout for Bautista might be if he is forced to enter the room and listen to the slagging that most clubs tend to do of their player behind closed doors, Anthopoulos showed absolutely zero concern.
“We don’t play hardball with anybody,” he said. “We’re very clear with the agents and the players. We have open lines of communications and dialogue. Our No. 1 goal in all negotiations is to get a deal done, at the same time having the responsibility to the Blue Jays in the same way that players have responsibilities to themselves, their families and their peers. As long as it’s conveyed and it’s communicated on both sides and everyone acts in good faith, the reality of it is you don’t always come to an agreement. If you always did, you wouldn’t have the arbitration process.”
It seems very much as if the Jays will ignore the one-year contract and be happy negotiating with Bautista long-term, content to lose the 2011 arbitration decision. Anthopoulos is not worried about the impact of Bautista’s 54- homer outburst last season. He believes the most important comparisons in arbitration are with players at similar positions, of similar age and with the same years of major league service.
“Salary arbitration is all about your class,” Anthopoulos opined. “Bautista has five years of service. Guys get grouped. It’s all about being lumped into a group. Bautista is lumped in with the five-plus position players. You can look at Joey Votto, but he had three years of service and that’s the group he’s lumped into. There’s a lot of things that go into deals. Health, age. There’s a lot of variables.”
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