Is This the End for Jose Bautista?
Ten months ago, Jose Bautista hit the free-agent market. Even coming off a down year, he looked like one of the best hitters available. However, Bautista was caught up in the cratering market for bat-only sluggers and, after a few months of just moderate interest, eventually re-signed with the Blue Jays on a one-year deal.
Now, with that contract expiring in a few weeks, it looks quite possible that not only will Jose Bautista not be returning to Toronto next year, but we might be seeing the last few weeks of Bautista’s major-league career.
We already know Bautista has a pretty limited market appeal; the lack of suitors for him last year demonstrated that pretty clearly. But given what he’s done in 2017, it’s hard to imagine anyone is going to be particularly interested in offering Bautista a starting job next year. His current numbers are filled with enough red flags to attract all the bulls in Spain.
For instance, there’s this.
The main thing that set Bautista apart from all the other sluggers in the game is how often he made contact. During his peak as one of the best hitters in the game, he made contact right around the league-average mark. Then, as his power faded a bit, he upped his contact rate to offset the physical decline. This year, though, he’s going to post the worst contact rate of his career, and it’s not even close.
Of course, swinging through pitches with more frequency late in your career isn’t that unusual. A lot of guys try to compensate for reduced bat speed by starting their swings earlier in order to continue to generate power, so they sacrifice contact in order to keep hitting the ball hard when they do put the bat on the ball. But that isn’t the story with Bautista this year.
| Year | EV | Rank | FB/LD EV | Rank | xwOBA | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 92.0 | 10 | 95.6 | 18 | 0.389 | 12 |
| 2016 | 91.6 | 14 | 96.5 | 10 | 0.371 | 31 |
| 2017 | 88.4 | 55 | 93.0 | 65 | 0.308 | 114 |
Bautista’s exit velocity is down three ticks from last year, and most problematically, it’s down on balls in the air. This is where Bautista has earned his keep over the years, and now when he elevates the ball, it just isn’t hit all that hard. And so his production on fly balls has similarly cratered.
| Season | PA | AVG | SLG | ISO | BABIP | wOBA | wRC+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 249 | 0.298 | 1.008 | 0.710 | 0.107 | 0.535 | 242 |
| 2011 | 191 | 0.294 | 1.016 | 0.722 | 0.093 | 0.536 | 244 |
| 2012 | 135 | 0.252 | 0.855 | 0.603 | 0.081 | 0.444 | 183 |
| 2013 | 159 | 0.229 | 0.783 | 0.554 | 0.068 | 0.422 | 169 |
| 2014 | 193 | 0.277 | 0.856 | 0.580 | 0.113 | 0.474 | 210 |
| 2015 | 217 | 0.276 | 0.924 | 0.648 | 0.107 | 0.481 | 212 |
| 2016 | 135 | 0.252 | 0.809 | 0.557 | 0.113 | 0.418 | 166 |
| 2017 | 180 | 0.206 | 0.600 | 0.394 | 0.100 | 0.315 | 93 |
Bautista’s isolated-power mark on fly balls is down a couple hundred points from the last few years and 300 points from his peak years. Because of how he hits his fly balls, they’re almost always homers or outs, so the loss of exit velocity has just turned a bunch of balls that used to go over the fence into balls that are run down on the warning track.
And so, realistically, there’s just not many ways left for Bautista to produce. He’s an extreme pull hitter, so he’s one of the easiest guys to shift in baseball, turning more of his grounders into automatic outs. Because his swing is designed for loft, he doesn’t hit many line drives, but he does hit a million pop flies, which are all easy outs. He already walks about as much as anyone, and once pitchers adjust to the new Bautista, they probably won’t throw him so many pitches he can take.
Maybe there’s some bounce back in his bat once pitchers start challenging him more, but that would just come at the expense of his on-base skills, most likely, and Bautista isn’t hitting the ball hard enough to suggest that there’s a big homer spike coming if he gets more strikes. So now, Bautista is a soon-to-be 37-year-old who has taken huge steps the wrong way in his two primary skills and offers basically no other skills to speak of.
Considering all of that, Bautista doesn’t have a great marketing case for himself this winter. He’s an OF/DH type with limited upside who may not hit well enough to play everyday anymore and who doesn’t provide any real value on the bases or in the field. He could still help someone as a part-time guy, but is anyone going to bet on one of the game’s foremost personalities responding well to being the weak half of a platoon? And given how few bench players teams are carrying this year, not many teams have spots for pure corner-outfield bench guys anyway, as they need maximum versatility from the non-starters in order to cover all the positions with just three or four backups.
So Bautista could find himself a man without many options. He might get some offers for a few million from a low-revenue AL team looking for a potential bargain — the Rays are seemingly always linked to guys in this position — but with the Jays likely to move on with other options, there’s a decent chance that no one else will want to add his personality to their clubhouse for what amounts to a role-player job. Given how poorly this year has gone, this really might be it for Bautista as a big leaguer.
And if it is, it’s a career worth celebrating. Andrew Stoeten did a great job examining how Bautista was covered, and his entire piece is worth your time, but this particular paragraph stood out to me.
The essay was just about as on-point and perfectly timed as the bat flip itself. And, also like that moment, is made more poignant by all the personal and cultural history that comes along with it. Bautista can be both cerebral and emotional, menacing and exuberant, incredibly disciplined and out of control. There is a genuine and complicated humanity to him in that way that we’re not always fortunate enough to get to see in our favourite athletes, and in the essay it comes across—all of it.
Bautista can unquestionably come off poorly at times, and I’m sure a lot of fans around baseball will be happy to see him go. But baseball has enough boring guys repeating Crash Davis cliches. To his credit, Bautista was never boring, and he gave the game some much-needed life. He wasn’t perfect, and he could have controlled his outbursts more often, but the game was better off for having had a superstar like Bautista who provided some legitimate and obvious passion for the sport.
Love him or hate him, this remains one of the most memorable moments in recent baseball history.
Bautista was a hero to some and a villain to others, but either way, he was someone you wanted to watch. And the game will be worse off without him.
This might all be premature. Maybe Bautista will find another team for 2018, and we’ll get a few more bat flips before all is said and done. But if this is it for Bautista, and we’re watching the last few weeks of his career, then I’m happy I got to witness it. Jose Bautista was something to behold.
Dave is the Managing Editor of FanGraphs.
I’m not sure who the team would be to take a chance that he’d be worth a semi-regular role (since pinch hitter roles don’t exist anymore, right?). It’s amazing how quickly it can end.
I for one will never forget the ‘flip’. That game is near the top for me in most memorable non-WS games involving two teams for whom I had no rooting interest.
I was supposed to miss the game because of jury duty but both lawyers agreed that Jays playoff tickets were a valid reason for being excused! Still get the shivers to this day when I see the highlight, and the flood of emotion that was released in the Skydome (always and forever) that night comes back a bit. Great write up
I had to work late that night, so I was sitting in my empty office with the radio call on. I was done by the fifth inning or so, but too scared to miss any of the game, so I just sat there at my computer listening.
When Odor scored on the insane throw Martin bounced off Choo’s bat, I was sure that was the game. It just seemed like a sign. Then Jays came up and the back to back to back errors happened. I couldn’t believe that was really happening. It seemed like a tacky sports movie. Then the groundout and the fly out to tie it up, and Jose at the plate. When he hit it out I lost it. Screaming, dancing in my cube, just freaking out. Then I checked to make sure I was the only one on the floor who stayed late (thank God), went home, cued up the game recording, and watched the bat flip about 30 times in a row.
That was easily the highlight of my sports fan life. Jose is one of the major characters animating baseball in the past decade. If this is the end, which it probably should be, the game will be just a little bit less fun without him.
My friend with season’s tickets apologized to me that after getting his family in for games, the earliest he could offer to take me was Game 5 vs. Texas. So I was lucky enough to have been there, but I did the same thing when I got home – watched the bat flip home run at least 30 times in a row.
And then on some day in the middle of that winter, I did the same thing, just cued it up and watched 50 times in a row. What an inning and what a moment.
I’d like to continue the thread of how we lived the most memorable game of the past decade for the Blue Jays.
I live in Mexico, so I was listening at the game at work. When José hit that ball, I tossed my headset, lapped around my boss’ office shaking my cap (I was wearing my cap for luck, my office has a strict dress code but I didn’t care). I was euphoric. I had been Bautista’s fan since his breakout in 2010, he really is for me what Carlos Delgado was for other people in the past. To watch him cap his first postseason series with that bomb is just magical. Those moments are what baseball it’s all about.
I was in the stands, and the top of the inning I had no idea what was going on. So was understandably depressed going to the bottom of the inning. And then the errors happened, and when JB hit it out, it was just such a crazy rush of emotions. And then after the game, I can’t count the number of random high-fives and people honking horns in the street.
I was at home, standing and pacing the entire time, and when that hit went off, I jumped (the entire world felt like it jumped) but I hit my head on the light fixture. 🙂
That 7th inning may have been the greatest I’ve ever seen. The Odor weird score, Andrus dropping consecutive throws, Bautista’s HR, it was an amazing 45 minutes or so.
I think there is a decent chance that if he wants to play he could get a “prove it” deal or a spring training invite for a bad team just looking to fill out a roster and hope he has a bounce-back year so they can move him at the deadline for a middling prospect.
A team like the White Sox, for instance, have to give somebody PA’s in LF and DH next year and none of the prospects are likely to be ready to start the season.
I think you’re right, but I don’t know if his pride will allow it. I’d guess he would rather go into go into coaching instead.
I wouldn’t be least bit surprised if the Red Sox went with him over retaining Chris Young for another season. As good as his glove is, his bat just doesn’t make him a good fit to rest the lefties and OF in the lineup.
Bautista can be more aggressive with an on-base approach lineup that needs someone to take a fastball off the green monster. He would be easily loved by Boston fans in the likes of Mike Lowell or Orlando Cabrera, and would shift some more positive ABs away from the likes of Moreland (who won’t be back) or Hanley (who doesn’t seem he’s ever gonna get shoulder strength back). He would still have strong adherence to be in the lineup against most pitchers as his splits are pretty even, and can be spelled against good hard-throwing types who can beat him inside.
Red Sox are in desperate need of just a decent, not great, power RH bat to complement the lineup short of trading for a big bat, and would be a good bridge for 1-2 years vs giving up more youth than they already have.
Only reason Sox balked at RH bats last year was due to the luxury tax. I don’t see them trying to pry any lefties like Moose or Hosmer who would get their power sapped with the right-field park factors at Fenway. It would be the most efficient signing and worse-case most efficient Summer trade bait if they want to re-tool elsewhere.
Jose Bautista is about as popular in Boston as he is in Baltimore. The Red Sox should solve the first base problem by moving Devers, not quite good enough in the field, over there and signing Eduardo Nunez to a multi-year deal. Few players have ever benefited more from getting to the right ballpark than Nunez. He becomes a power hitter in Fenway along with his other excellent all-around offensive skills.
Agreed that this thread of remembering where we were when it happened is great. These have been fun to read.
I was in school in Toronto, and the game was being shown in one of the larger campus buildings.Naturally several friends and I skipped class to go watch (as we did all postseason long). In the top half of the inning, we were incensed and yelling obscenities at the TV; in the bottom half, we gradually went from fury to giddiness to absolute euphoria when he hit it out. The room went nuts, with people hugging each other and yelling. The play itself, and the atmosphere, were so emotional and intense that I spent the rest of the evening telling everyone I saw about how José not only flipped his bat but threw his helmet against the ground. It felt that intense and the scene was so violent. His righteous, vindictive anger at overcoming what had happened in the top half of the inning perfectly matched all of our feelings.
That 7th inning was completely nutso. After reading Dave’s article, I was compelled to rewatch that inning on MLB.TV to relive the absurdity. A couple of points stuck out about the Bautista home run. As he rounded second base, you can see a stream of something, possibly popcorn, rain down in front of the camera. As he rounded third, the vibrations in the stadium were so intense that the camera shook wildly as it focused in on Cole Hamels in the dugout.
For a hilarious take on that inning, I recommend reading the “Flipping Out” article written by Joe Posnanski and Michael Schur that can be found on the NBC Sports site.
http://sportsworld.nbcsports.com/blue-jays-rangers-seventh-inning-jose-bautista-bat-flip-russell-martin-throw/
Curious MLB TV subscriber here, what’s the easiest way to navigate to and watch a game from a previous season? Do you need to do it on mlb.com rather than on your TV?
I watch MLB.TV on both my PC and via Apple TV. Using Apple TV v4, there is a calendar feature that makes it easy to navigate to the desired date. Here is the relevant text from the website, “Selecting the date at the top of the page opens up the full monthly calendar of games. Selecting either arrow next to that date will navigate to the previous or next day’s games. In the calendar view, these arrows will enable navigation to the schedule for the previous or next month.” Here is the link:
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/subscriptions/index.jsp?product=appletv#requirements
Using the PC version is even easier. Today’s games can be seen here:
http://mlb.mlb.com/mediacenter/index.jsp?c_id=mlb#date=9/20/2017
Just replace the date at the end of the URL with your desired date and you’re set. Apparently games played before the 2015 season are no longer archived.
As a Blue Jays fan, there’s no one more special to me. For years, when we were always behind the powerhouses of our division, José’s brilliance gave a reason to watch. Even when we were 10 games out in August, turning on the game meant you might see him hit two home runs or reach base five times. Cheering for him to accomplish great things (and, hopefully, earn the recognition that often seems to evade the Blue Jays’ biggest stars) took the place of cheering for the out-of-contention team.
And once we caught and passed those powerhouses, and made the playoffs for the first time in my life, José lived up to his role as our leader and yeats-long best player with one of the best postseasons in recent memory. Not only did he give us one of the great moments in team history, and me one of the great emotional highs of my recent life, but in the A.L.C.S. against Kansas City, as we hurtled towards elimination in game 6, he pulled us back from the bring not once but twice, with a pair of home runs. We lost that game for him, as we had so many times over the years, but his iverall playoff perferomance stands undiminished.
If this is it for José in Toronto, as I’ve expected for some time, or anywhere, as now seems possible, then all of us Blue Jays fans will miss him greatly. Watching him has truly been a privelige, and without him we would never have reached the heights of 2015-’16. All I can say is thank you, José, and I’ll always remember and appreciate you and your greatness.
I think there are two ways to really win over the fans. One is to compete for a championship. The other is to have truly memorable players. Jose Bautista was among the most memorable of the truly memorable players.
The 54 doesn’t seem like it was 2010… yikes. As far as the bat flip, I never quite understood the negative response from anybody other than the Rangers. That was a pivotal moment in baseball history and he stroked it. People lose their shit when the win $100 on a scratch ticket. That was a fair moment to let the emotion show to pump up the crowd. This isn’t the PGA. There is no Shooter McGavin.
Damn you people. Go back to your shanties.
You eat pieces of shit for breakfast?
I personaly did not care either way but I imagine the answer would be that some people did not see it as “emotion” or “pumping up the crowd” as much as it was “fuck you!” to the opponent. And some people don’t like that kind of attitude and consider it unsportsmanlike.
I don’t think anyone has much of a problem with a player celebrating a big moment. That happens all the time without incident. The issues seem to occur when they blur the line between celebration and taunting/acting like a dick. And the bat flip definitely fit into that category.
That is my take on it at least.
The opponent in this case really did deserve a bit of a fuck you at that point.
BTW I think JB could be considered the original swing Change flyball prospect. People talk about Donaldson or murphy but bautista´went from an aftertought to a Superstar in his late 20s by making swing adjustments.
JB is also the original Rhys Hoskins:). 38% GB rate for his career with 14% walks and 18.7% Ks.
Bautista is the FB Revolution and the swing Change Revolution.
probably time to go for him though. He had a lot of injuries and I think his Body just can’t perform at that Level anymore. He basically has Zero running or defense value right now (he was a pretty athletic Defender in his prime and had a great arm which is gone too after some shoulder Problems) and if he now also stops hitting he has no value. even if he manages to bounce back to a 110 wRC* or so he still doesn’t have much value and at a 90 wRC+ he is almost Sub replacement Level.
but he had a really nice career for a late bloomer.
One must wonder how much damage your body goes through playing on the Skydome grounds. Seems like regression is inevitable for anyone playing full-time there more than 4+ seasons.
It’s hard to say because there hasn’t really been many long term Blue Jays in the skydome era. More often than not the best players leave in free agency, and go on to have fine careers. Bautista is the Blue Jay’s positional fWAR leader.
ie: Alomar is the only player inducted as a Blue Jay and played 9 seasons after parting with the Jays.
I will always recall being upset with the Bucs trading the league average hitter version of Joey Bats for a non prospect C (Robinzon Diaz) with no clear rationale. He wasn’t expensive and they needed bench bats that could play multiple positions, which would have accommodated him and Andy LaRoche. There was also plenty of OF corner space after dealing Nady and Bay. Who knows if he would have still broken out, but there was no reason for the Bucs to not find out. They then repeated the same mistake by ignoring Brandon Moss’s swing change in AAA and letting him go for free.
Since we might be retiring one of the best nicknames in 21st-century baseball, I would have loved to see the headline say: “Is this the end of Joey Bats?”
I hated that he played for my team’s division rival. His emergence from obscurity was amazing to watch.
I loved watching him put smarmy sportswriters who didn’t realize he was educated and eloquent (or maybe assumed he wasn’t fluent in English?) in their place with thoughtful responses.
Couldn’t agree more that even when he was overly emotional that baseball is better for having some stars with some recognizable personality.
“I don’t know about all that. Give me Robinzon Diaz any day.”
-Neal Huntington
If you say you saw this coming in 2008, you are either lying or clinically insane.
Did other fans really dislike him that much? As a jays fan its hard to see the other side. Were we enjoying him too much to see his annoying side?
I hear all the time about how fans hate Bautista. He’s kind of like the heel in a pro wrestling match. But since I mostly follow the NL, I’ve loved watching Bautista. He’s fun. Baseball needs more fun.
Yes, he’s disliked. My biggest memory is of him trashing his shoulder trying to throw an Oriole out at 1B from RF because he had some beef. I would agree w/ the wrestling analogy. Fans like to dislike him.
Actually, the 9-3 putout was something I’ll remember fondly.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/jose-bautista-and-the-9-3-putout/
I believe the other three fan bases in the AL East all hated him, especially the Orioles.
I see what you did there. Fortunately for you, you’re right that there are three other fanbases in the AL East.
I enjoy his presence in baseball, but he whines A LOT about balls and strikes. It’s pretty off-putting if you’re a fan of any other team, as I am. I enjoyed the bat flip and I enjoyed Rougned Odor punching him. The bat flip was better, but both were good. He will be missed.
The thing was a couple years ago, the vast majority of the time that he whined about them, he was right. His strike zone judgement was phenomenal that it really annoyed him when an ump was off.
And yeah, he was more vocal about it than most. I know a few years back watching the games you could just see some calls and know that he’d be ejected by the end of the PA.
He often was right, but his game was also based on getting Close calls in his favor because he was so selective to get the right pitches that he could pull in the air.
that naturally means he is more dependent on the umpire than an all field hitter who covers the whole Zone like miggy.
not saying miggy swung at everything but JB was also selective within the Zone due to his polarized batted ball Profile so he could use some Close calls in his favor too.
so maybe he was trying to influence umpires to give him some Close calls to Support his Approach.
He was usually right. After he retires, maybe he can go on to be the most accurate umpire in umpiring history.
Bautista turning into a star player is a wonderful baseball story, just like EE or Donaldson (also guys who didn’t figure it out right out of the chute). And he is a villain among non-TOR fans. So what? We’re just fans and none of that takes away from what he achieved on the field. Kudos, Sr. Bats. There’s no way the Odor punch becomes as big as it was if Bautista wasn’t seen largely as a villain, and the bat flip is the case in point for his label as ‘villian’.
I’ve always been suspicious that PEDs played a major role in his relatively late csreer resurgence. Though perhaps his astonishing collapse speaks more to a natural aging curve.
He lost a lot of muscle mass over a period where an athlete of his level wouldn’t reasonably be expected to.
He was an absolute health freak and I wouldn’t be totally surprised if he had access to or knew the right people to help him systematically juice and avoid detection.
During a major dead ball era he looked bigger, hit the ball a ton and his stats went up exponentially. Color me skeptical.
His physical decline for a man so dedicated to health, fitness (especially chronic stretching on field!) strikes me as highly suspect.
This should reach a high downvote quickly.
While you can’t rule out anything when there’s a weird aging curve, I think you could easily interpret those facts a differently way (people in their mid-30s often lose substantial muscle mass, his health freakiness helped him stave off aging for a while but not forever, his fitness focus was mostly on flexibility and core strength, etc). And there haven’t been any whispers like there was with the famous cases in the late 90s. So I don’t know if there’s any more reason to suspect he’s on steroids than Yasiel Puig or Yoenis Cespedes or any other fairly muscular looking guy.
I still doubt the importance of pediatrics in the relatively late return of CSREER. Although ZAGREB, said the collection may be in the background of natural aging.
He spent a lot of time in the muscles of an athlete at his level, it would not be justifiable to expect this.
Loss is absolute health and I would not be surprised if he could get to the full or know the right people to help him systematically and homeless.
Looking at the dead ball at the summit, the balloon was a tone, and the statistics grew exponentially. My color is skeptical.
Your physical rejection of a devoted man in health, fitness (especially chronic stretching on the ground!), We look like a very suspicious person.
It will quickly vote in the midterm vote.
Crazy thought: If you know what you’re saying is at best troll-adjacent…maybe don’t say it?
I’m a fan. But I don’t think saying something that at least a small minority is thinking or speculating is trolling per se.
It’s obviously trolling. After hitting 54 HR and then the follow up season, who would have had more tests than Bautista? And to say he found some way to bypass the tests – if he could do that, wouldn’t other players have done that, and avoided getting caught?
The correct answer to why Bautista broke out: http://www.tewkshitting.com/elite-swing-mechanics-ebook/ebook-bonus-content/jose-bautistas-short-swing/
But let’s not let facts or evidence get in the way of opinion. Truthiness, because the troll FEELS in his gut that Bautista cheated, despite no evidence to support it.
You’re really saying there has never been a player who has used steroids without getting caught? Go watch Icarus and come back. Most chemists would laugh at the MLB testing and could easily circumvent the testing. Easily. Especially with a sophisticated athlete like Joey Bats.
A-Rod never tested positive (when it counted) either. Not saying that Bautista was juicing, but negative tests aren’t proof he wasn’t.
To top it off all your bull about muscle mass is completely fabricated. He’s not a big dude. Never has been.
early 2000s http://misterirrelevant.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Jose-Bautista-Orioles.jpg
2009/2010ish http://images.complex.com/complex/image/upload/c_limit,w_680/fl_lossy,pg_1,q_auto/senrxktbqswtzcb1gi8u.jpg
2015/2016ish
Sorry folks these photos have officially changed my opinion. Please ignore my first post. No chance he used now that I’ve seen these photos.
“I make terrible arguments backed by nothing but bullshit and when I get called out for my bullshit evidence I pretend that I didn’t actually say those things”
his head grew in size and make his ears look normal
Bautista was never jacked – what are you even talking about? His body has been remarkably consistent over the years, from his Pitts days through today.
Bautista is an awesome player. I think what I loved most about him was that epic plate discipline. Yeah, people hated Bautista because he complained, but he had an elite view of the strike zone, and it was frustrating that more often than not, he was right.
The other thing I loved about Bautista – when you made him angry, he’d crush you. Angry Bautista was a thing of beauty. Hit him? HR the next AB. Throw in tight? He’d stare you down, then crush it. Darren O’Day skipping off the field for getting Bautista out? He didn’t forget – Bautista skipped right back on the next HR.
He is very intelligent, he’s a great player, and that Bat Flip was perfect. Despite claims of him being selfish or not a leader, he stood up for his teammates, or when Rogers tried to screw over Travis out of some cash, Bautista stood up to them and for stood up for his teammate. He always rose to the occasion. It’s been tough watching him lately, but he’ll go down as one of the best all time Jays. And I can’t wait to cheer for him during the final homestand.
Yeah, the “selfish teammate” thing feels completely made up to me. He seemed like the best sort of teammate in my mind, the sort that would speak up in support of his teammates.
It’s already a bit weird with old Bautista here now, but it’s going to be even more strange when Hernandez or whomever is there next season.
Hopefully. And not because I’m against bat flipping or anything. I’m just an Orioles fan.
Baseball needs more Bautistas. An elite player who is passionate and articulate and lets his passion show.
edit: delete double post.
BTW one Problem of him is that he has already sold out for power so there is nothing to Offset the physical decline.
Dave mentioned that aging batters sometimes start their swing earlier and pull more but that was the original adjustment JB made (he said load slower and earlier to attack the ball out front of the plate rather than reacting).
that means pulling is maxed out and elevating also is maxed out so there is not much to gain if the physical decline sets in.
if he was a conservative Elevation Profile all field hitter there would be something left in the tank but he already made that old guys adjusmtnent when he was younger.
he basically always had his game power to Play above his raw power due to his contact/pull/elevate Profile while many sluggers have their game power Play below their raw power.
only Thing that can save him now is coors:).
Coors is an interesting suggestion. Good strike zone command with less ball movement and more ball carry. I don’t think the Rockies have a slot for him though?
Also the Rockies have no DH and a gargantuan OF that would require you trade for and clone Buxton so that CF and LF Buxton could each cover 45+% of the field leaving Jose with a little slice of his own.
He would probably have to take 1 yr 5 million deal or less. Perhaps a change of scenery will do him good as well as being full time DH. I can see a team taking a chance on him but not at any significant dollars