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MLB Franchise Notes: Bautista's New Deal Involves Rogers Centre Attendance Clause

The GLOBE & MAIL's Robert MacLeod notes the Blue Jays are "so certain" that 36-year-old RF Jose Bautista will "return to form that they built a bonus into his contract that will be paid if Rogers Centre attendance continues to swell." Bautista re-signed with the club earlier this week. Attendance at Rogers Centre was "already bulging at the seams last year when close to 3.4 million patrons poured through the turnstiles." Sources said that Bautista would "receive $150,000 if the Blue Jays’ home game attendance crack[s] 3.5 million and could top out at $900,000 if the attendance tops four million." Atkins said that Bautista’s deal is "actually sweeter than that, that the player would stand to make roughly" $1.5M in bonuses if attendance "shoots through the domed roof" (GLOBE & MAIL, 1/20). 

ALWAYS ON TIME
: In K.C., Rustin Dodd notes the Royals on Thursday "released start times for every game" on the '17 schedule, including the traditional first pitch time of 7:15pm CT for most Monday-Friday games. In addition, home Saturday games will "continue to start" at 6:15pm. The club "used a 6:15pm start time for weekday games in April and September last season, hoping to draw more families." But the move "proved largely unpopular with fans who struggled to arrive on time after work" (K.C. STAR, 1/20). 

NATIONAL SPENDING: MLB Network's Bill Ripken addressed the report the Nationals are not signing free agents because their new Spring Training site is over budget, saying, "If this is stopping your operations, as far as going out there and building a baseball club and putting the team out on the field, I want to see what that thing looks like" ("MLB Tonight," MLB Network, 1/19). ESPN's Kate Fagan said it "seems like a really low likelihood" the ballpark's budget would impact the on-field roster. The Colorado Springs Gazette's Woody Paige said former Nationals GM Jim Bowden, who had the report, is a "bitter former employee, and I think he's just taking a little jab at his old team" ("Around The Horn," ESPN, 1/19).

HOMECOMING: New Twins Special Assistant to Baseball Operations Torii Hunter "does not see his new job" as ceremonial. In Minneapolis, Patrick Reusse noted Hunter is "planning to dive in, listen and watch, and to express his opinions." In fact, Hunter has "never been reluctant to express those, and he’s not going to start now." Hunter is also going to do some work on Twins’ television broadcasts, and it will be "intriguing to watch him walk the tightrope between refreshing candor and proprietary information" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 1/19). 

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