<img decoding="async" src="//thenationnetwork.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/images/f4/35/article_f4359412-fc75-4d7a-962f-8720295b484e.jpg" alt="Jose Bautista" style="width: 100%; height: auto;"> Photo credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Jeez.
I’m not going to pretend that I thought that Jose Bautista’s injured toe was going to heal up in a matter of a couple weeks. Talk to anyone who has had the misfortune of suffering what they call “turf toe” (which <a href="http://bluejaysnation.com/2016/6/21/jose-bautista-has-turf-toe-will-be-re-assessed-in-two-weeks">I explained briefly</a> when Jose first went down) and they’ll tell you how painful it can be, and tough to manage. Because of this, the timeline for Bautista was necessarily unclear.
Today &#8212; a day after Bautista was finally able to take off the walking boot he’d been in since the injury took place, as I noted in our Game Threat last night &#8212; the timeline cleared up a little bit. And… well… it’s not great.
As in: it’s what the title of this post says.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueJays?src=hash">#BlueJays</a> don&#8217;t yet have a clear timeline for Jose Bautista, but Gibbons says &#8220;hopefully we can get him back at the end of the month&#8221;
— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) <a href="https://twitter.com/bnicholsonsmith/status/750428978259845121">July 5, 2016</a>
</blockquote>
<script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
As in: the best case Ontario is that he’ll be back for the final two months of the season.
As in: the more likely scenario is probably that he won’t even be back for that.
There are a lot of silver linings here, but none are as good as the Jays actually having Bautista back and healthy right now.
Still, those silver linings include:
<ul>
<li>
Having a healthy and rested Bautista back for the stretch drive.
</li>
<li>
Missing Jose during a perhaps the least intense part of the schedule: the All-Star break is next week; the Jays have both Monday and Thursday of the following week off; coming out of the break the Jays face Oakland and Arizona on the road, then come home for series with Seattle and San Diego.
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
Not having to talk about Bautista as a trade deadline candidate &#8212; or at least not nearly as much, since there is now that much more uncertainty over what the acquiring team would be getting that &#8212; along with the fact that he has 5-and-10 rights that could block any deal, and the fact that the Jays would be goddamned morons to shop him &#8212; what was already a conversation that should be moot is, somehow, uh… mooter.
</li>
<li>
This injury, and his sub-par campaign to this point, must be factored into Bautista’s free agent asking price, which might make it that much easier for the Jays to make a realistic play on retaining him. I’m still doubtful that they will &#8212; it’s not like it won’t change their evaluation of what’s an appropriate amount to spend on him, too &#8212; but at the very least it somewhat validates the decision not to rush into an extension last winter.
</li>
</ul>
So… good news? Not really. It’s nice that the Jays’ offence has hardly missed a beat without him, though. Better get used to that! *COUGH*

<img src="//thenationnetwork.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/images/f4/35/article_f4359412-fc75-4d7a-962f-8720295b484e.jpg" alt="Jose Bautista" style="width: 100%; height: auto;"> Photo credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY SportsJeez.I’m not going to pretend that I thought that Jose Bautista’s injured toe was going to heal up in a matter of a couple weeks. Talk to anyone who has had the misfortune of suffering what they call “turf toe” (which <a href="http://bluejaysnation.com/2016/6/21/jose-bautista-has-turf-toe-will-be-re-assessed-in-two-weeks">I explained briefly</a> when Jose first went down) and they’ll tell you how painful it can be, and tough to manage. Because of this, the timeline for Bautista was necessarily unclear.Today -- a day after Bautista was finally able to take off the walking boot he’d been in since the injury took place, as I noted in our Game Threat last night -- the timeline cleared up a little bit. And… well… it’s not great.As in: it’s what the title of this post says.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueJays?src=hash">#BlueJays</a> don't yet have a clear timeline for Jose Bautista, but Gibbons says "hopefully we can get him back at the end of the month"— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) <a href="https://twitter.com/bnicholsonsmith/status/750428978259845121">July 5, 2016</a>
</blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>As in: the best case Ontario is that he’ll be back for the final two months of the season.As in: the more likely scenario is probably that he won’t even be back for that.There are a lot of silver linings here, but none are as good as the Jays actually having Bautista back and healthy right now.Still, those silver linings include:<ul>
<li>Having a healthy and rested Bautista back for the stretch drive.</li>
<li>Missing Jose during a perhaps the least intense part of the schedule: the All-Star break is next week; the Jays have both Monday and Thursday of the following week off; coming out of the break the Jays face Oakland and Arizona on the road, then come home for series with Seattle and San Diego.</li>
</ul><ul>
<li>Not having to talk about Bautista as a trade deadline candidate -- or at least not nearly as much, since there is now that much more uncertainty over what the acquiring team would be getting that -- along with the fact that he has 5-and-10 rights that could block any deal, and the fact that the Jays would be goddamned morons to shop him -- what was already a conversation that should be moot is, somehow, uh… mooter.</li>
<li>This injury, and his sub-par campaign to this point, must be factored into Bautista’s free agent asking price, which might make it that much easier for the Jays to make a realistic play on retaining him. I’m still doubtful that they will -- it’s not like it won’t change their evaluation of what’s an appropriate amount to spend on him, too -- but at the very least it somewhat validates the decision not to rush into an extension last winter.</li>
</ul>So… good news? Not really. It’s nice that the Jays’ offence has hardly missed a beat without him, though. Better get used to that! *COUGH*

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