Duquette on Bautista: 'The guy’s a villain in Baltimore'

Baltimore Orioles general manager Dan Duquette really wants to clarify just how much his team doesn't want to sign Jose Bautista.

After telling Bautista's representatives that Baltimore wouldn't offer him a contract in free agency - because fans don't like him - Duquette was still at it Wednesday, reiterating how Bautista is viewed by the team's supporters.

"Well, Bautista's agent has been knocking on the Orioles' door for a while and I told him, 'Look, our fans don’t really like Jose Bautista.' And they don’t," Duquette told Dan Connolly of Baltimore Baseball.com.

"Not to mention he has a qualifying offer attached to him. I just made a comment in that we weren’t going to be pursuing their client. It’s true. The guy's a villain in Baltimore."

Taking it a step further (if that was possible), when asked if the Orioles would consider Bautista if the veteran's asking price drops, Duquette replied: "I'll have to check with the fans."

Bautista versus the Orioles has been a hot topic since he emerged as one of baseball's premier sluggers in 2010 with Toronto, thanks to countless run-ins with Orioles players and a growing rivalry between the clubs.

In terms of where Bautista will land, he's reportedly received growing interest from teams in the past few days, including the Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Blue Jays. A reunion with his former team would be the cherry on top for the Baltimore-Toronto rivalry.