Bautista: 'I know that I want to come back' to Blue Jays

For the better part of the last decade, Jose Bautista has called Toronto home.

On Sunday, after collecting a pair of hits and countless ovations in what was billed as his final game at Rogers Centre in a Blue Jays uniform, the six-time All-Star - and impending free agent - said he'd like to keep it that way.

"I know that I want to come back. I've always been clear about that, that's never going to change," Bautista told Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com following an emotional 9-5 victory over the New York Yankees.

He continued: "I'd be stupid not to."

Whether that desire is mutual, however, remains to be seen.

"But other than that, I can't really control anything else," Bautista added. "Time will tell and we'll see what happens."

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What we definitely won't see, though, is the Blue Jays exercising their half of Bautista's $17-million mutual option for 2018 - tacked on to the one-year, $18-million deal he landed in January.

After a subpar 2016 campaign, Bautista's performance dipped even more dramatically this year, with the 36-year-old putting up his lowest OPS (.673), wRC+ (80), average (.201), isolated power (.164), and walk rate (12.5%) since before his magical breakout in 2010. Only nine qualified hitters put up less WAR in 2017 than Bautista (-0.4), who was hitting just .157/.253/.318 in 62 games since the All-Star break before a 2-for-4 performance Sunday.

With Kendrys Morales ensconced in the designated hitter spot for 2018, and both Teoscar Hernandez and Anthony Alford poised to fight for playing time in right field, it's not clear how Bautista - whose mutual option includes a $500,000 buyout - fits in with next year's iteration of the Blue Jays.

Still, Bautista isn't giving up on the possibility of once again pulling on a Blue Jays uniform at Rogers Centre, and, as such, he said Sunday he'll save his parting message to his longtime fans in Toronto for another day.

"I think there will be a time and a place where I expand on my thoughts but it's not yet," he said.