Blue Jays' Bautista doesn't believe team will re-sign Cabrera

Retaining the services of impending free agent Melky Cabrera is among the Toronto Blue Jays' top offseason priorities. There is mutual interest on both sides to work out a deal, too, according to Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos. 

Despite Anthopoulos' willingness to bring Cabrera back to Toronto, slugger Jose Bautista doesn't believe an agreement will be made. 

The Blue Jays' right fielder said in an interview with the National Post that he believes Cabrera will sign elsewhere. 

“I have to assume that," Bautista said. "When you have the chance to re-sign one of the top free agents and you don’t take advantage of that opportunity, the chances of him coming back to you are pretty slim.”

Cabrera should draw significant interest on the open market after a tremendous bounce-back season in which he hit a team-leading .301 with 16 homers and an .808 OPS in 139 games before undergoing surgery on a fractured pinkie finger in early September. 

There had been a lot of uncertainty regarding the year Cabrera would have after an abbreviated 2013 season, which came to an end following the discovery of a benign tumor in his back. But the switch-hitter silenced the skeptics and turned in one of the best offensive seasons of his career, posting a 125 wRC+ - according to Fangraphs - while manning left field for the third-place Blue Jays.