The Phillies have officially worked out a deal with the Mets to acquire veteran outfielder/third baseman Jose Bautista, as Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports on Twitter. Philadelphia had claimed the veteran on revocable trade waivers.
New York will receive a player to be named later or cash to complete the deal, per Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia (via Twitter). Bautista is only earning the league-minimum salary, so he won’t cost the Phils much in dollars.
The Phillies have already managed to squeeze in one defensively-limited slugger onto their roster, acquiring Justin Bour earlier in the summer. Now, they’ll shoehorn Bautista into the mix.
Of course, active roster space won’t be an issue in a few days’ time, as rosters are set to expand on Saturday. The Phillies will need to tie up a 40-man spot in order to carry Bautista, though.
Bautista is no longer the feared slugger of yore, and owns a sub-Mendoza batting average, though he can still drive the ball out of the park and draw a walk. His overall output on the season — .196/.339/.364 with 11 home runs in 342 plate appearances — translates to roughly league-average productivity (98 OPS+; 99 wRC+).
Perhaps there’s an argument to be made, though, that Bautista’s exceptional plate discipline and remaining pop make him a particularly interesting late-game pinch-hitting option. And the organization no doubt knows that it’s infusing a fiery competitor into its clubhouse at a moment when the team seemingly needs a jolt.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Just call them the Philadelphia Stallones, because this is putting them Over the Top.
Thumbs up
That joke was a bit Rocky
Rolling my eyes
Don’t leave us with that Cliffhanger. You’ll leave a Rambonctious crowd with that kind of talk. Might even draw First Blood. Go Get Carter, that Demolition Man, and he will give you his Creed.
The Mets found him Expendable. Guess Jose had an Escape Plan.
This is why I follow MLB trade rumors… These comments…
ffjsisk….Thumbs up….very clever
Bautista was Expendable, not sure how this Cliffhanger of a year will end, but Jose seems driven to Escape to Victory. I think they’ll end up a bit short their bullpen is Rocky, probably need another Specialist out of the pen, could maybe go Get Carter Capps from SD.
Very clever ray_derek
youtube.com/watch?v=IsFkUfoCkjw
The Phillies just turned their hat backwards lol
worst possible news.
In an odd arrangement, the Phillies convinced the Orioles to send ALL their remaining international signing money to the Mets in order to acquire Bautista. “It fits their mode of operation,” commented a Phillies official. “They get rid of the burden of the international cash and get nothing in return.”
Deal nixed. The nothing in return failed its physical
(spit my coffee laughing)
LOL. You win at comments
That’s just flat out hilarious – well done
phillies are also sending the newly unveilved Beer-Cycle, after its impressive debut last night, to the Mets.
Wow. I like this move
THOR AND DEGROM INVOLVED TOO!!!!!!!1 PLZ TELL US JEFF TODD
Another shark in the tank to prevent Kingery’s development. Well done Phils.
Kingery and Crawford. Neither look like they’ll help the team contend in 2018, though, so I understand this. Now, if Philly signed Bautista in the offseason…
Kingery has played 19 positions this year trying to stay in the lineup. They’ve done nothing but mess with him. Kapler is incompetent.
is kapler the one who gave Kingery a major league contract even though the team had a starting second baseman already on the team and kingery had never played another position? what were Kapler’s options exactly?
Jose has only 2 months left so calm down, Phillies are in the middle of a postseason push and Jose has postseason experience, happens every year with every team.
Trade for enough Mets and before you know it, you ARE the Mets.
Bautista is trash.
@yaketymac
As a Mets fan, I’ve watched Bautista since his acquisition. Your team just got stronger for the playoff push which should be the priority over the September development of a youngster who may have to wait as will you. It’s all about team not any single player.
Bautista plays solid defense in both infield and outfield corners, has good arm, is excellent teammate, plays hard, remains legit power threat and on base guy.
You are right about the playoff push but you are wrong about his solid infield defense. He blows defensively in the infield (at least at third).He’s there for a bat off the bench.
He did fine at third and first for the Mets in limited duty. Saw it with my own eyes.
You might wanna get your eyes checked…
Hey LTF—his eyes are fine. His complacency has been permanently compromised so LTF no longer can separate fantasy from reality.
When he sees Wilpon stupidity or frugalness it registers as “trying their best” not, “why would I give any money to these crooks?”
Unfortunately LTF is too far gone to rehabilitate. His doctors call it “hopeless”.
development doesn’t go out the window, but it does take a backseat to a playoff run.
They’ve signed Kingery long term. They didn’t do that to sign has-beens like Assdrubral Cabrera and Joey Batflips
You dont understand how a playoff push works do you?
It’s just about September,and they have a shot at the playoffs. Development is definitely in the back seat right now,but it’s not as if it’s that big a deal anyway.He’s probably not cutting too much into anyone’s fielding time,but he gives the bench a Rh version of Matt Stairs.
He will have zero impact on their development. Not for anything, but Crawford has pretty much always struggled offensively in his career. He may not factor so much in the Phillies future plans if he continues to hit at the level he has over the last several seasons in both the majors and minors.
You don’t see me talking about Crawford. I’m talking about Kingery, the kid that’s done everything they could possibly ask of him that Kapler won’t play anymore.
He was in there originally and you edited him out.
I dunno man. They probably asked him to hit, but he hasn’t done that yet.
What? They want players to hit? That’s crazy talk!
He’ll mentor this young team and teach them the ways of the bat flip…(because he can’t do much else)
and the walk… cause he still has a good eye at the plate. He can clearly see all the fastballs he can no longer hit.
He can shield the team with his chin.
LOL….Jose Bautista? Really? Another no hit bat to the no hit bench. Maybe this New Baseball fad indicates that many negatives equal a positive. He does get on base with walks.
no issue with adding an extra bench bat with a .370 OBP vs LHP this year. We dont have anyone to hit lefties off the bench.
Issue with DFAing someone who has some type of fringe value (even if it is just Mitch Walding or Mark Leiter or something) for a 37 year old who doesnt move the needle
They have to do it in the offseason anyway. Might as well just free up the spots now.
Odd but what the hell. Go nuts. Be Bold, I reckon.
Coconut oil on your nuts, that’s Gabe Bold!!!
Still a pretty clutch hitter, and with postseason experience, why not?
Batting line with runners on: .261/.403/.486
Batting line with RISP: .284/.437/.507
He’s awful. Just retire already…
Get 7 RBI in a game against them, and the Phillies now think Jose Bautista is still a serviceable player.
He’s more than serviceable for the role in which the Phillies acquired him in the playoff push.. You guys cut him while he was essentially still going through spring training even after call up.
For the Mets, he filled in well in an outfield that lost Cespedes, Lagares and Bruce to the DL. long term – and Nimmo shorter term.
He also occasionally played third and first to fill some gaps as well.
Most important, he was excellent mentor to the younger players.
He has no place whatsoever on a playoff team. You must have better players in AAA. You probably have pitchers who hit better.
So let me get this straight: trade Kingery, Hoskins and Nola to the Mets, re-sign Cabrera until Gamboa (who has put up bad offensive #’s in clearwater) is ready. Bruh if ur gonna troll, at least be funny or subtle about it.
Just send them back a bag of baseballs—and that’s an overlay.
*Overpay
Bautista was always entertaining with the Phillie Phanatic. Jose is an interesting fellow, rarely dull, and might provide a little swagger for the young Phils.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He’s actually hitting exactly as bad as last year on the season as a whole. Rather literally;
17 – .203 BA, .366 SLG
18 – .196 BA .364 SLG
The only real difference comes in the fact he has been pitched around a couple times on the lowly Mets (resulting in a .308 OBP to .339 OBP difference between the two years) – and thats largely because he makes a great 1st half of a DP
If Philadelphia is grabbing him to PH, a situation he probably won’t be walked in often on a better club, then his talent level is likely back to 2017 numbers
I’d also say that over his career, he has been rather comically bad in PH situations (.138/.305/.169/.474 over 82 PA) – something that has continued in 2018 (just 1 Single,l, 1 Double in 12 AB) – so not sure he us suited for that role anyway
Pithy comment, but wouldn’t he be the second out of a GIDP ?
He’s slow and generally batted in the lower half of the order. Only thing he can really do is supply occasional power, something few esp back of lineup Mets can do.
When you just pitch around him it means he won’t get that occasional XBH and he is very unlikely to score on the next hitters contact anyway. That sets him up as the 1st out (at 2B,) which is your targeted goal after being open to putting him on.
His pitches in the zone are down to just 39%. This after being constantly about 42-43% since 2012 and 45% overall in his career. He was definitely being pitched around in 2018 fairly often. Although when challenged he was showing extreme swing/miss tendencies as well, and he isn’t hitting the ball that well either. So it’s not because they are truly afraid to pitch to him, and instead certainly their being willing to put the slow runner with some remaining pop on first with other crummy Mets hitters behind him likely to ground into 2; or at worst unlikely to knock him in because of his lack of speed.
Nothing for nothing.
These comments are 10/10 you guys are cracking me up
Bautista is a villain to so many, but…
Bautista can play LF, RF, 1B, 3B and 2B in a pinch. None of them great anymore, but all of them serviceably. In just a partial season this year he still has a 1.2 WAR. His bat speed has regressed, although he has some pop. At this point he only hits mistakes out of the ball park, when just 2 years ago he could hit good pitches out. He is extremely intelligent, studies the game and all players then passes his knowledge to his teammates (not just to the young guys). His eye is great and plays with passion. You will always get 100%. Great 2 month pick-up for a PTBNL, especially for a team in contention.
What goes around comes around ? It’s like his pre breakout career all over again haha
Maybe he needs his special medicine again?
Maybe if Bautista does poorly with the Phillies, they can release him in time for both the Marlins and Nationals to give him a try this season. Then Jose could be the first guy to play for all 5 teams in a division in one season; he’s checked off the Mets, Braves and Phillies already this year.
Why would they want him? He hasnt been good since his infamous bat flip.
As I have said elsewhere, Jose is now a guess hitter and can’t get around on a 95+ fastball unless he starts his swing very early which leads to strike outs.
He will help the Phils just by being who he is, a leader, power threat, great arm, and barely serviceable defensive guy.