Bautista: I'm not a villain and I don't care what people say

Jose Bautista's offseason was tumultuous and slow-moving. For a time, his departure from the Toronto Blue Jays - where he's played since 2008 - seemed imminent. But no takers arose until he re-signed with the Blue Jays for one season and $18.5 million with a pair of mutual options.

In an interview with Sportsnet's Stephen Brunt, Bautista says Toronto is exactly where he wanted to be, but that the prospect of leaving was real and that free agency didn't weigh on him as much as might be expected.

Bautista has become the poster boy for Toronto's rivalries with other franchises, specifically with the Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers. Orioles general manager Dan Duquette even went so far to call Bautista a villain in December.

"I am not a villain, I don't care what people try to say. I'm a good player on a good team. I think a lot of that plays into it. Sometimes good players on good teams get booed.

"The fans are fans. They're going to be fans of their team. I can't expect them to be rooting for me if I'm in Texas or Baltimore," he said. "When people are being fans they turn into somebody else. When people want to be civil and see me on the street, they normally say hi, shake my hand, want to take my picture, and ask for an autograph. That may be the same guy that's booing me and yelling obscenities at me during the game. I can't take it personally."