Fastball

Toronto Blue Jays Legend to Sign One-Day Contract and Retire as Member of Organization

Former Toronto Blue Jays star Jose Bautista is going to officially retire as a member of the organization before joining the Level of Excellence on Saturday.

Brady Farkas

Toronto Blue Jays Legend to Sign One-Day Contract and Retire as Member of Organization
Toronto Blue Jays Legend to Sign One-Day Contract and Retire as Member of Organization /
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Former Toronto Blue Jays star Jose Bautista is going to sign a one-day contract with the organization before going up on the Level of Excellence on Saturday, per reports.

From Shi Davidi:

Jose Bautista will sign a one-day contract so he can retire as a member of the Blue Jays, club announces. He’s going up on the Level of Excellence tomorrow.

The Level of Excellence is essentially the Blue Jays Hall of Fame.

Per the Blue Jays, other members include: PAUL BEESTON (April 4, 2008), GEORGE BELL (April 9, 1996), JOE CARTER (July 30, 1999), TOM CHEEK (August 29, 2004), CARLOS DELGADO (July 21, 2013), TONY FERNANDEZ (September 23, 2001), CITO GASTON (July 30, 1999), PAT GILLICK (August 7, 2002), ROY HALLADAY (March 29, 2018) and DAVE STIEB (April 9, 1996).

Bautista played 15 years in the big leagues, 10 of which were with the Jays. He hit 288 home runs in his Toronto tenure, including a league-leading 54 in 2010 and a league-leading 43 in 2011. He made the All-Star team six times with the Jays and delivered one of the most iconic moments in team history with bat-flip in the 2015 playoffs.

In addition to the Jays, Bautista did spells with the Orioles, Royals, Pirates, Braves, Mets and Phillies.

The Blue Jays will be taking on the Chicago Cubs over the weekend. First pitch of game one of the series is Friday night at 7:07 p.m. ET as Jose Berrios pitches against Javier Assad.

Berrios is 9-7 while Assad is 1-2.

The Jays have a 1.5 game lead on the Seattle Mariners for the third and final wild card spot in the American League.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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