Report: Blue Jays, Bautista agree to 1-year deal

Jose Bautista is coming home.

After several days of what appeared to be tense negotiations between Bautista and the Toronto Blue Jays, the outfielder reportedly reached an agreement with the team Tuesday on a one-year contract, sources told Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.

It's expected the deal will be announced by the Blue Jays soon, Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan reported Wednesday. Bautista will reportedly earn $18.5 million in 2017, per Passan, and a pair of options could bring the total value to $60 million over three years, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network.

Passan reported Tuesday that the sides were still hammering out final details, including a third-year vesting option and the price of the 2018 buyout, which could be worth between $500,000 and $1 million.

Bautista's reported 2017 salary figure appears to fall in line with earlier reports that suggested the outfielder was only open to taking a one-year deal if it exceeded the $17.2-million qualifying offer he rejected from the Blue Jays in November.

Poll: Did the Blue Jays make the right move by bringing back Bautista?

Keeping Bautista is a coup for the Blue Jays, who lost slugger Edwin Encarnacion to Cleveland earlier in the winter. His presence not only boosts their lineup, but gives the Blue Jays a much-needed corner outfielder, even with his defense having declined over the past year.

BLUE JAYS' PROJECTED 2017 LINEUP

The 36-year-old has spent the last eight full seasons in Toronto after arriving in an August 2008 trade. Over his Blue Jays tenure, Bautista emerged as a superstar with his 54-homer campaign in 2010, and became a face of the franchise as the Blue Jays broke a 22-year playoff drought in 2015. He sits at or near the top of virtually every offensive category in Blue Jays history, and is just 71 homers shy of passing Carlos Delgado for the franchise's all-time lead.

Bautista is coming off a subpar season by his standards, posting a .234/.366/.452 slash line over 116 games - though he still smacked 22 home runs and walked 87 times. His season was cut short by a pair of fluky injuries, including a case of turf toe that put him in a walking boot in June, and he was not named an All-Star for the first time in seven years.

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Besides Toronto, Bautista also reportedly received interest from the Tampa Bay Rays, Cleveland Indians, Baltimore Orioles, Minnesota Twins, and Philadelphia Phillies at various points during the winter.