It's interesting to see how a player like JD views all of this.
He said he told Ross he wanted to retire a Blue Jay after the 2017 season and seems upset that Ross suggested a 3 year extension (claiming he was going to play a lot longer than that). The Jays clearly needed to rebuild, so logically, signing JD to some long extension entering his age 32 season didn't make a ton of sense - a 3 year extension may have helped his trade value. Of interest, JD actually played 5 more years, with the last 2 being pretty poor, so the 3 year extension would have been a good call.
JD seems upset that Ross offered to show him how the Jays project him moving forward. He declined (sounding like he's offended by that suggestion) and cites all his MVP votes and what he'd done in the past - seemingly suggesting that he should be paid based on what he's done, not what he's going to do moving forward. I wonder if a lot of players feel that way? Maybe they do when they feel they've been underpaid (based on their performance) during their previous contract? But no good GM does this - nor should they.
He seemed upset that Rogers didn't care if they resigned JD. Again, 2018 Jays were rebuilding and lowering payroll for obvious reasons. I wonder how many players care whether the Owner (who typically know nothing about baseball) "wants them there" or not.
He goes on to claim he told Ross "I just want you to be straight up with me", which I suspect is exactly what he would have done when reviewing the projections - but JD refuses to see them. Then he's so butt hurt about all of this, he just tells Ross he won't talk contracts anymore, then claims he thinks Ross approach it like this on purpose because he didn't want him to come back?
Based on this video, it seems JD doesn't really understand how the business of baseball works (even if he says he does in the video). This doesn't really surprise me - I think a lot of baseball players and fans are clueless. That said, I suspect it's difficult for a star player to ignore the "feelings" - even if it's just business. I get the impression that's part of it. You dominate and give the teams some amazing memories and you never want that to end - but sometimes it has to. I can't say I blame him for that.
Thanks for posting the video.