After looking in yesterday at Edwin Encarnacion‘s situation with the Blue Jays, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag Sports provides an update on the team’s stance with regard to fellow slugger Jose Bautista. While Toronto has no intentions of meeting Bautista’s high asking price, the club would be interested in a deal in the range of the contract Yoenis Cespedes signed with the Mets — i.e., three years at around $25MM annually.
Even at that price, says Heyman, it’s no sure thing that the Jays would bite. And even if the team moves into such a range — perhaps including an opt-out opportunity to sweeten the pot — it’s unclear whether Bautista would reciprocate. The word over the winter was that he was seeking five years and $150MM, which in truth always seemed a stretch. Despite his consistent excellence, after all, Bautista is already closing in on his 36th birthday.
With the first half of the year in the books, that kind of payday seems even further from reality. Though a recent toe injury doesn’t reflect any broader health issues, Bautista was off to a relatively pedestrian .230/.360/.455 slash over his first 286 plate appearances.
While he’s still walking as much as he strikes out, isn’t too far off of his usual power output with a .226 ISO, and has been hurt by a .239 BABIP, any erosion in productivity will be watched closely by teams weighing a major investment in an older player. And that’s before considering Bautista’s deteriorating glovework in the outfield, which could soon mandate a shift to first base or a DH role.
As MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes explained in his most recent free agent power rankings, it’s not even certain at this point that Bautista will command a fourth guaranteed year in the coming winter. That assessment is impacted, too, by the presence of other high-quality, open-market options — including power bats like Cespedes (assuming he opts out), Encarnacion, and Mark Trumbo as well as strong all-around outfielders such as Josh Reddick, Dexter Fowler, Ian Desmond, Carlos Gomez, and Michael Saunders.
I still think Atlanta comes in way overpriced to land Bautista. They’ll need a splash in FA for the new 2017 season, w/ the new stadium, etc.
Bautista #3, Freeman #4 wouldn’t be bad.
No way would Coppy even consider that. Absolutely foolish to even consider that. No place to play him as he’s a terrible defensive OF, and we don’t have a spot at first base for him.
If he wanted a one year deal after denying a QO and no one signs him for the value of the QO, then MAYBE Coppy will consider it. Even then, we don’t need an old, injured, honestly not great slugger who will only get worse.
Gotta make a splash to put people in the seats. Who else is going to do it in the FA class? He’d play LF or RF.
Markakis had the best fielding % in RF last year, and he was -1.5 dwar. Bautista was -1.1
Not much of a difference, and Bautista hit’s more HR’s.
It might not ever happen, but I think there’s a chance.
Im not sure Bautista is a splash. Not for what is now a fairly astute fan base. ANY erosion of skills turns that splash into a total sink which would create horrible pr. I just think Atlanta will be more guarded in their approach and not try and pull an old school Yankee type grocery dash.
You’re naive if you think they’ll sign him. It’d be ridiculously stupid first off. Secondly, he’d have no position in 2 years because he’ll need to DH
Have you watched any Braves games? Bautista on one leg would be a splash for them. Just hitting it out of the infield would be a splash.
Never said he’d be on a 10 year contract. I can see a huge overpay for 2-3 years. 3/$30 or so.
Did you read the article or pay attention at all? 3/$30 would not cut it haha
He wants a 4 or 5 year deal. It would take 25-30 AAV. And to say the Braves would do that.. That’s like me saying Reds are gonna contend next year. They’re keeping Bruce and gonna sign Bautista to play center field… Bc he’s a better hitter than Hamilton so guess we need him.
You believed something Heyman said? LMAO.
Bautista is not a spash and the new stadium will put people in the seats with some young stud players
The braves are obviously in the middle of an entire rebuild. Signing Bautista is hopefully the last thing on their mind. A new stadium should hopefully be enough to get people to the game because this team is two years minimum away from even thinking about competing.
Why would Atlanta do this? For a rebuilding club, the goal would be to stockpile prospects, not spend lavishly on an aging FA
2017 isn’t supposed to be rebuilding. They’ve said several times they’ll be players in the 2017 FA market.
Honestly, I would not do that. However, a splash would be nice. I just hope if they do it is a 2 year contract.
I don’t think there;s a team out there that will meet Bautista’s ridiculous asking price. He is going to be 36 and already battling injuries.
What other source, other than Heyman, do you have for that alleged asking price? Bautista said that what Heyman is claiming is wrong on both length of contract and dollars. The Jays said that what Heyman is claiming is wrong on both length of contract and dollars. So exactly how do you know what he is asking for?
No way I’d want my club to pay Bautista’s asking price. I wouldn’t even want him for half his asking price. Not saying he’s bad or anything, just not where I”d want my team to spend dollars.
I think he’s asking way more than he should for what he’d be able to provide, no doubt. But that’s not how it’ll work out. Someone will give him the money. Maybe it’ill be an AL team, but I do think Atlanta makes a run.
I know the Braves need OF’s and some pop but this just isn’t the right guy to throw money at…. to much money for the age. Just an opinion of course! I think better options will present themselves in the off season for the Braves.
I’d take Trumbo at say $12-15M AAV for 6 yrs before JoeyBats at his ridiculous number. Trumbo is younger, cheaper, and more versatile.
He will settle at 80 Million over 3 years with the Blue Jays.
Jays offer him the QO and then let him go somewhere else
YAS I want him to retire as a jay.
Id personally rather Bautista over encarnacion, if we’re not going over 100 million. His obp skills are elite, probably best in the league. And I think Encarnacion is a guy who once his power goes, he’ll be a sunk cost. Bautista can do a bit more without the power.
I still think there’s an undercurrent within the game that questions Bautista and PEDs.
I hope not, but we might be in a lull between PED headlines. It could be a perpetual cycle now…
I have a feeling Reddick will be in a Braves uniform if he does not sign an extension. Atlanta is most likely going to go after some free agents this off season. Maybe a catcher too.
13 Home Runs in 2009
54 Home Runs in 2010
It’s not real hard to figure it out how that happened
A really good hitting coach?
That’s good! That would be one hell of a hitting coach! Meanwhile, Bautista’s in the parking lot putting his head through car windows. “Starting Defense! Place At The Table!”
While I’m not saying he definetly didn’t use PEDs, people attributed his uptick in homeruns to his swing change. Instead of a more leveled swing, he was swinging his bat like an uppercut–like a golf swing’s followthrough, although obviously he isn’t hitting the ground before he hits the ball. Maybe Bautista had a natural power/strength (similar to what Giancarlo Stanton has) to his swing but could just never make enough solid contact until he changed his swing. At this point in his career though, you have to assume its his swing rather than PEDs. Like @Stormie said, unless he found some undetectable wonder drug the league would’ve definetly found something by now.
Amazing that he’s the only guy who’s found this wonder drug that can’t be detected. Illuminati confirmed?
It’s cause the coach saw his swing wasn’t that good so they changed his swing.
Brady Anderson had the same “swing change” before the 1996 season. Similar results.
Well the MLB’s having a hard time figuring it out since they can’t seem to find a positive test on him
You do realize in his 54 home run season he was tested all the time so if he was taken something it was undectable
Choose to live in denial if you want. Bautista has clearly been smart about what he’s taken, and I highly doubt he’s been taking PED’s from 2010 until now. In fact, his numbers suggest he hasn’t. PED’s have become more and more undetectable and untraceable as the years have gone by. Lots of players haven’t been caught. It took MLB 4 years to catch Nelson Cruz.
Personally, I don’t care that he used PED’s. I actually think it was a smart business decision on his part. It has made him millions. Players like Jose and Nelson, who were AAAA players, on the cusp of being out of baseball, made the right choice. I don’t blame them at all. I just choose to live in reality, and the reality of it is players don’t increase their home run totals by 41 due to swing changes.
more and more undectectable no actually mlb has increased their testing making it harder to use they r dectecting rearch chemical drugs now
Were also seeing another power spike. Im sorry, but the game has earned every ounce of question that might be drawn. 1987 is a weird outlier…but post that all the talk was juiced ball…
I was in the game in the mid 90s and steroids werent even a secret throughout organizations. Its been going on pervasively for years….so I just dont trust the game to honestly not collude in the situation.
You’re right on everything except for the fact that he doesn’t/hasn’t/won’t take peds for all we know. It is extremely irresponsible of you to go around spreading bs like this unless you are Jose Bautista or a person who has tested him and found he failed a test.
But they don’t increase their HR totals by 41 by taking steroids either, otherwise we’d see these kinds of monstrous outliers all the time when a person started juicing. Where are they all? You’re kidding yourself if you think it’s as easy as popping some pills and bam, a player goes from hitting 15 HR’s to hitting 50.
Bautista’s swing basically made him swing slower. The coach looked at his swing and slowly changed it.
Extremely irresponsible? Bautista is in danger as public figure because the fan base questions the integrity of the game….please…there are irresponsible things in this world….but not this. Comes with the territory. I only said I question…as do many others…who wouldnt? Baseball has SUCH history of being upstanding…
Hawk Harrelson is a peach himself…but he out and out accused Bautista on the air…thats very rare for an insider to the game to do post steroid era…its touchy subject…even for a rampaging Harrelson.
Im sure there are quite a few “worst kept secrets” in the game.
Heyman hasn’t gotten anything correct on the signing or trade scene in a long time, more than a year. Every time he posts something, it is immediately said to be incorrect by the parties involved. Both Bautista and the Jays have said Heyman is WAY off on both length of contract and dollars. Why does he still get so many mentions here?
I know that EE refuses to talk about his extension during the season but I really feel like he is the better person to sign then JB if you had to choose. If they really wanted to stay in contention they could theoretically keep both, but JB’s outfield defense is absolutely horrid. He belongs in the DH spot, but EE is doing much better in that role. Obviously JB if he was a DH would probably have been pretty numbers, as he would be able to focus purely on his hitting; however, I really doubt he put up numbers as strong is Encarnacion’s doing at the moment. I I realize the free-agent class this off-season is really sparse, especially with outfielders and starting pitching however I think JB really overplayed his hand with how he handled the contract negotiations. I do not think he’s worth the money he is allegedly asked for, but he’s also denied asking for that much. Regardless, if the Blue Jays don’t Pay him he’ll hit the open market and likely get exactly what he wanted anyway… I know Bautista’s a fun player to watch but he’s really overrated into one good playoff run with a bat flip doesn’t warrant the contract he expects given his age, numbers, and injuries. Even though it’s been pretty injury for the past few seasons minus the random issues this season. I’m not gonna pay $150 million to somebody who’s going on the DL for a big toe issue … To me he’s a diva
I personally think that he’s just really overrated in that Encarnacion the much smarter by. I would never pay $150 million to somebody who goes on the DL for a big toe issue. I know he’s had some really good seasons as of late, but one good playoff run with a really cool backflip doesn’t warrant what he wants. He overplayed his hand. I feel like he’s cocky and a diva … However, even if the Blue Jays make the smart move in don’t re-sign him and sign some buddy else along with Encarnacion he’ll still get his asking price on the open market given the sparseness of solid to great outfielders in next years free-agent class. Multiple teams will bid on him assuming he continues his crazy stats even with a regression this year (unless his second half is horrendous). The numbers he’s putting up at his age were not normal and are suspect … Even though he’s had all the injury issues the season I feel like the numbers he’s putting up our closer and more realistic to what people should expect from him. I’ve never looked at him as a player that shows up when it matters most
I would take EE over Bautista right now. In fact there are several outfielders that would make more sense (in my opinion) to sign than Bautista. He has not looked good all year. Add in his age