He said it: Bautista's most memorable quotes
Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista has never been shy to speak his mind.
The 35-year-old outfielder has made it a habit to speak the truth during his 12-year career, as evidenced by his recent remarks claiming he gave the Blue Jays a non-negotiable contract extension offer.
In light of Bautista's unforgiving honesty, here are five of his most memorable quotes:
Smack-talking Darren O'Day
The tense feud between Bautista and Baltimore Orioles reliever Darren O'Day is well-documented. But, as the Blue Jays slugger pointed out last spring, the rivalry's been pretty one-sided for the most part. From Peter Schmuck of The Baltimore Sun:
The reason I have a history with this guy is on one particular thing. I don't know what day of the week it was, he struck me out and he started yapping at me. After that it's been a back and forth of emotional situations. There was a similar one in Toronto. I hit a home run, then he hit me here, then today he threw behind me, I hit another home run. So that's the way it goes. I'm going to face him again, so I'm looking forward to the challenges.
Criticizing management after the 2014 trade deadline
In 2015, former general manager Alex Anthopoulos broke the bank to acquire David Price and Troy Tulowitzki in a flurry of trade-deadline deals, one year after Bautista indicated he was disappointed with the Blue Jays' lack of deadline activity. From Brendan Kennedy of the Toronto Star:
We're in a position where we're in striking distance with not many games left and we could've used a little boost, just like some of the other teams went out and got some additions. It's not that you don't feel your team is good enough, it's just that everybody does that at the deadline, figures out a way to improve the roster. We just somehow didn't.
Dropping the mic after a bat flip
Texas Rangers reliever Sam Dyson didn't enjoy Bautista's epic bat flip in Game 5 of the ALDS, likening it to a show of "backyard baseball" in postgame comments made to reports. Bautista's response may not have been one of his wordiest quotes, but he said all he needed to:
Jose Bautista, asked if he had any reaction to Sam Dyson saying his bat flip was backyard baseball: "No."
— Barry Svrluga (@barrysvrluga) October 15, 2015
Losing respect for Ned Yost
After disagreeing with Kansas City Royals skipper Ned Yost on his judgment of an umpire during a heated meeting between the teams in August, Bautista not only tweeted that he lost respect for Yost, but also praised the manager with this hilarious backhanded compliment. From Brendan Kennedy of the Toronto Star:
I just don't know how you could say one, that you believe that was one of the best officiated games you've ever seen and two, you know exactly everybody's intent on the pitches that were thrown closer to batters. Maybe he's got a mind-reading device that I've never heard about.