65 Million Dollar Man?

Bautista led the majors with
54 home runs in '10.

Jose Bautista will be staying north of the border for the next five years, agreeing to a five-year extension with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Bautista is coming off a career year where he led the majors with 54 home runs and was a first-time All-Star. The deal is worth about $65 million, but could have huge upside for the Jays, having a player enter his prime, or a daring gamble.

Over the last couple of years, Toronto has been notorious for signing players to long-term deals that seemingly do not work as planned.

Most notably the seven-year contract they gave to Vernon Wells in 2006 and the six-year contract with Alex Rios in 2008, both whom are no longer with the organization and never lived up to their respective agreements. Wells was injured much of the contract and after finally producing a bounce back year in 2010, he was traded to the Angels this offseason. As for Rios, he was placed on waivers late in 2009 and claimed by the Chicago White Sox in August.

Since then, Rios has also bounced back hitting 21 home runs in '10, while driving in 88 runs.

The Blue Jays have reason to be concerned, but hopefully that will not be the case with '10 Hank Aaron Award winner. Although, we are talking about a player that had never hit more than 16 home runs in an entire season until last year and had been with five different organizations in his short seven-year career.

Bautista made the biggest jump in home runs in a single-season compared to his previous season total in baseball history. His inability to go to right field with power could prove be a problem for the Jays as well, 53 of the 54 home runs were either hit to left or left-center.

The question has already been asked, is the Silver Slugger worth $65 million, or have the Jays made another huge contract gaff to kick off the decade? Only time will tell.