Bautista told option not picked up, will play somewhere in 2018

[dagger]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/despite-season-bautista-intends-play-somewhere-2018/

But Bautista is fully intent on playing, somewhere, in 2018, and rather than thinking strictly statistically, he’s focused on all he can bring to a ball club.

"Contributing to daily wins is what it’s about for me," he said. "I tried to focus that on this year. I did an OK job, not as good as I’m used to, not as good as everybody’s used to seeing me, and that’s OK. There are good and bad years and for the most part my work tool, which is my body, is great, and all I’ve got to do is stay ready to go

."

[North_of_Border]

Actually I can see Bautista having a decent few years as a secondary type player if he is willing to take low salary deal. Bautista at 18 million is stupid but if you can sign the same guy for say 4-5 million, he doesn’t look so bad.... question is if any other team wants to touch him.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

[Lateral Quicks]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/despite-season-bautista-intends-play-somewhere-2018/

But Bautista is fully intent on playing, somewhere, in 2018, and rather than thinking strictly statistically, he’s focused on all he can bring to a ball club.

"Contributing to daily wins is what it’s about for me," he said. "I tried to focus that on this year. I did an OK job, not as good as I’m used to, not as good as everybody’s used to seeing me, and that’s OK. There are good and bad years and for the most part my work tool, which is my body, is great, and all I’ve got to do is stay ready to go

."

His body is great, but his bat speed is not. Unfortunately that's the bottom line.

[I_Like_Dirt]

Actually I can see Bautista having a decent few years as a secondary type player if he is willing to take low salary deal. Bautista at 18 million is stupid but if you can sign the same guy for say 4-5 million, he doesn’t look so bad....

He doesn't look as bad, but he still looks bad. Bautista needs to be significantly better than he was this season to even sniff being worth $4-5 million. And while it could happen, that isn't generally the trend as players move into their late 30s. A decent few years? More like he might have a single season fluke, but is more likely to simply not be very good for the remainder of his career.

[flatjacket1]

Actually I can see Bautista having a decent few years as a secondary type player if he is willing to take low salary deal. Bautista at 18 million is stupid but if you can sign the same guy for say 4-5 million, he doesn’t look so bad....

I really doubt he gets a ML deal. Maybe a minor league deal with a ML option within 30 days. If you are a rebuilder you might take him on a small ML deal for the off-chance he is having a good year at the deadline and you flip him for some youth.

Look at Pedro Alvarez's stats in 2016. MUCH better than Bautistas this year, ended up getting a MiLB deal because people saw him as a DH only.

[The_Hater]

The fact that JB thinks he did an 'OK job' this past season is a big reason why he's going to be unemployed next summer. His ego doesn't match reality.

[polo007]

Read on Twitter

[Natural11]

Read on Twitter

Worst kept secret in baseball. It's time for Jose to move on and hit .180 for another team but .400+ against the Jays, as is tradition for ex-Jays.

[fouronesix22]

I love Jose but we seen the decline in 2016 and in 2017 why even bother discussing bringing him back. He will not take a bench role with the team as his ego and pride would not allow him and he too old to play in that RF. As atkins said today we are the oldest team and its time we move on from Jose. Thank you for the wonderful years Jose, now enjoy retirement if thats your next move

[dagger]

Simmons pulls no punches on his view of the 2018 we can contend narrative.

http://www.torontosun.com/2017/10/03/simmons-after-painful-season-blue-jays-gm-atkins-has-work-to-do

He is one of two things right now: He is either truly optimistic because he believes in this old Blue Jays team, assuming health is on his side. Or he is saying that because it’s his way of calming the fan base which buys most of its tickets in the off-season and he doesn’t want to dull the market.

Atkins did say that the Jays “objectively” had the fourth-best pitching in the American League. Exactly where those numbers came from is a matter of conjecture.

The Jays were seventh in the AL in earned-run average for starting pitching and 13th in innings pitched by their starters. The staff WHIP was tied for ninth in the AL. The 26 blown saves from the bullpen — 10 from Roberto Osuna — were tied for last in the AL. The bullpen was eighth in the AL in ERA.

You could actually live with their semi-deep bullpen heading into next season. They need the modern Mr. Blister, Aaron Sanchez, to be a factor in the rotation. If he isn’t, he’s impossible to replace. They’re likely to sign a middle of the rotation starting pitcher. That helps depth. With Sanchez, that’s possibly a playoff-like rotation. Without Sanchez, not a chance.

The real problem for Atkins is his everyday lineup, where old and slow or simply slow or simply old factor almost everywhere. He has Troy Tulowitzki back at shortstop, who played badly as shortstop when healthy this season and didn’t contribute much offensively and can’t run at all on the bases. Barring a miracle trade, he’s back next season.

He has base clogger Kendrys Morales at designated hitter next year and, barring a trade, in a lineup that already will have Justin Smoak, Russell Martin, Tulowitzki and maybe Steve Pearce involved. A 4x100 team that isn’t.

And this from a Blue Jays offence that was last in the American League in runs scored and without a single player in the top 65 in the AL in on-base percentage.

So, what Atkins has to fix is an everyday lineup that is his own personal Rubik’s Cube. They can’t get hit, can’t get on base, can’t run when they do, hit into too many double plays, can’t hit with runners in scoring position. This is where Atkins probably knows he needs to blow this up but can’t.