According to numerous reports, the Toronto Blue Jays are set to offer Jose Bautista a $65 million, five-year deal.

ESPNdeportes.com is reporting on the deal as done, while other outlets have been speculating as to its finer points. On Wednesday night, numerous reports said that Bautista and the club were “close” to the deal.

The contract apparently has an option for a sixth season that would bring the contract up to $78 million,  making him the highest paid player on the Jays’ roster.

Obviously the plan here is to use the late-blooming slugger to kick-start the Jays’ rise back through the American League East Division. It’s a gesture of good faith to Bautista, who led the majors with 54 dingers last season. Prior to that, however, he’d never hit more than 16 a season in his previous six years. For some, the giant contract is a gamble on a player that the Jays are very high on. For others, it’s an instance of the club solidifying its dedication for the future.

Apparently Bautista was seeking a one-year deal worth $10.5 million through arbitration. The team is going above and beyond that call, which raises some interesting questions about where the franchise hopes to go here. It also calls into question the legitimacy of the numbers and of the early reports. Would Toronto really bank that much on Bautista? Do they believe in him above what an arbitration hearing would have fetched?

It’s expected that the Jays could give word one way or the other on a Bautista deal some time on Thursday. The club has remained mum on things thus far and actually postponed the arbitration hearing from Monday to Friday of this week, seemingly in order to get a deal done. Is this the deal? We should know soon enough.

If it is, will Jose Bautista single-handedly change the fate of the Jays? Will they meteorically rise through the American League on the back of the 30-year-old?