Could Jose Bautista Be Damaged Goods?

[LittleOzzy]

The Blue Jays have made several splashes this offseason, but the health of Jose Bautista has rarely been discussed.

Bautista has hit more home runs than any other Major League player since 2010.

He missed virtually the entire second half of 2012 after sustaining an injury to his left wrist just four days after the All-Star break. Eventually, he underwent surgery to repair a damaged tendon sheath in his left wrist.

The Blue Jays maintain that their right fielder will be ready for spring training, but there may be reason to believe it won't be quite the same guy taking the field in 2013.

"If you have surgery on your fingers or your hands, it is so easy to screw up the mechanism," says Edward McDevitt, an orthopedic surgeon and member of the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine.

"And if you're a professional baseball player, where the ability to use your fingers and your hands is so critical to holding a bat ... it's not always easy to come back."

http://baseball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_ ... ged_goods/

[Strav]

meh

[jaymeister15]

He could be I guess, or he could be 100%. I'm not going to worry about it much because there is no way for any of us to know until at least spring training (or until he comes out himself and says something one way or another).

[xAIRNESSx]

I think a lot of us already have this concern. Just have to wait and see how he performs.

[tiger7]

nah once he gets his timing back he will be fine. Hopefully sooner than later.

[Homer Jay]

Waiting for Stoeten to lose his shyte on this article. This kind of thing gets him riled up. I bet PTS will be all over it too, but mainly because McGown is such an ardent pessimist.

My opinion. It can go either. I never expected the elbow injury to Tony F. to turn him from a HOFer to an average at best fielder, but it did. Either way even if he does drop to 35 hrs with a .850 OPS, he's still value for his contract.

[James_Raptors]

I think a lot of us already have this concern. Just have to wait and see how he performs.

This.
and I also have other "injury concerns".
Heck, look at our roster or even just our pitching staff last year in that regard.

There's always risk and all we can hope for is that the surgery(ies) fixed the issues, rehab went well and the people in charge of assessing those situations are doing their jobs. We can also wish for some good (better) luck this upcoming season too!

[mikero]

I'm not overly concerned. He'll have sufficient rehab time.

And Bautista isn't a Ichiro/Guerrero type hitter who needs a ton of hand and wrist strength anyways. He generates most of his power in his hips/core.

[TR50]

I think this is more media drumming up some 'news' about a team that has all of a sudden catapulted into contention.

There was no reason for Jose to return for the end of last season and as some other have mentioned, he has had ample time to rehab and recover from the injury. I have faith that he'll still be a very very potent and dominant bat.

[zong]

Media churning up more motivation for Bautista, could be a positive thing, he seems decent under pressure IMO

[JMH]

A friend of mine wrote this article, glad that its made its way here.

If you enjoyed his writing check out his blog here: http://touchemalltoronto.blogspot.ca/ Altough hasn't been updated since Nov.

As for the article, I sure as hell hope JBau can return to previous form and mash in the 3 spot but even if he regresses slightly and still puts up a +800 ops that contract will hopefully never look like an albatross.

[Mak]

Terrible headline, just one of the worst ones i have seen in a while. Article itself is good.

[kavan]

Well do be honest do I think Jose hits 50hr again no.. Do I think he can hit 40 yes. Do I think the rest of the team being better and him getting days off will happen more than not def. Then again he can be 100% and even better than he was 2 years ago. Jose will know come Spring Training.

[Randle McMurphy]

As long as Bautista is able to remain on the field, he should be the same great hitter he's been for the past three years. The skills haven't declined yet (and he did hit two monster shots in his rehab game in AA a day before coming back up to the majors and going down again).

Will he be able to remain on the field all year coming off wrist surgery? Will he feel the same pain again? If he does feel pain at all, will it be something he can play through? Nobody here knows the answers to those questions, but I'm certainly not going to bother worrying about it right now. Just have to hope the rest and recovery will do its job.

[raps4589]

scary. i hope hes good.

[dballislife]

i would take .260 30 90 from jose this year

[Reignman]

Didnt AA mention recently that Jose asked to play in the winter classic? I assume hes feeling ok.

[Raps in 4]

We have enough depth this year that he can sit out a few games if needed.

[Ado05]

Like others, I have no concern about his injury. He's had plenty of time to rehab it. Right now, he should be doing his normal offseason workouts/routines. If anything is wrong, we'll find out this offseason, not in the regular season.

[Hendrix]

Didnt AA mention recently that Jose asked to play in the winter classic? I assume hes feeling ok.

I don't think that means he's ok. A lot of players seem to want to play even when they aren't healthy. For example, Romero pitched through an injury all last year and didn't tell anyone about it. Nene had an injury and played in the Olympics anyways, and that resulted in him being injured for the start of the NBA season.