Blue Jays: Jose Bautista Back on the DL, Fantasy Impact
By Bill Pivetz
The Blue Jays will be without their superstar outfielder Jose Bautista for at least two weeks with a knee sprain.
The Toronto Blue Jays did everything they could to stay competitive with the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East. The team added some outfield depth and lucky for them, they did. The Blue Jays placed Jose Bautista on the 15-day DL with a knee sprain, but there is no exact timetable for his return, so fantasy owners need to look for a replacement.
Bautista has been pretty much average this season. He has a .222/.349/.444 with 15 home runs, 48 RBI and a 63:58 K:BB ratio. Bautista did miss 30 games earlier in the season with a toe injury.
He hurt is knee in Tuesday’s game by apparently catching one of his spikes in the Rogers Centre turf. The Blue Jays were already preparing for the worst as a DL stint was in the discussion, and that’s what happened.
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The team already lost Kevin Pillar to a thumb sprain and Ezequiel Carrera is also on the 15-day DL, so they are down two outfielders leading into the final month of the season. The outfield alignment for Wednesday’s game was Darwin Barney in left field, Melvin Upton Jr. in center and Michael Saunders in right.
From his return on July 25 to August 9, Bautista hit .190 with three home runs, seven RBI and a 14:10 K:BB ratio. His plate discipline and power are accepted by fantasy owners, but a batting average that low is not something we expected when drafting him.
If you are in need of an outfield replacement, the waiver wire is rich with talent for the final six weeks of the season.
Jorge Soler is back from injury and has two home runs and five RBI in his first four games. He’s owned in just 15.4 percent of ESPN leagues. Phillies prospect Aaron Altherr is hitting very well and is available in over 80 percent of leagues. The Padres have two young outfielders in Travis Jankowski and Alex Dickerson who are both hitting well.
Next: Aaron Altherr Worth Picking Up?
It seems like Bautista can’t avoid injury. He was relatively healthy in 2013 and 2014, playing over 150 games in each season. The previous two seasons, he played 92 and 118 games. This is something fantasy owners should have prepared for. He already missed 30 games with the toe injury, and will miss at least another 15 with this injury.
The Blue Jays current group of outfielders don’t really do anything for me, so I would look elsewhere for a replacement option in the final weeks of the season.