Well that was no fun. The Jays, after being up 6-0 at one point in Monday night&#8217;s game, were walked off by the empty husk of the Chicago White Sox, who I believe had the likes of <a href="https://twitter.com/lrgmnn/status/813635533658144768">Rey McSriff and Bobson Dugnutt</a> in their lineup.
And so, with the trade deadline in the rear view, the long final two months of the 2017 Blue Jays season begins.
Ugh.
I usually try to keep focused on the positive in this great sea of unrestrained, half-witted, cynical, braying negativity that we call fandom (especially on the internet), but that&#8217;s a tough ask tonight. That was shitty and stupid. And even if they&#8217;d won &#8212; which they should have and almost did! &#8212; I was ready in that ninth inning to face some rather dark questions.
Now it all feels worse, and like piling on. But here we are. We&#8217;re gonna do it anyway&#8230;
* * *
<h1>What&#8217;s Up With Roberto Osuna?</h1>
Roberto Osuna wasn&#8217;t exactly getting blasted around the yard in this one. He wasn&#8217;t awful. He managed to record a strikeout, and was punished by an infield single, a hit by pitch, a blooper, and one actually decently struck ball.
Normally I&#8217;d laugh off an outing like that. Even coming,  as this one did, after a similarly unfortunate performance in Saturday&#8217;s loss to the Angels.
Osuna&#8217;s been great this year! Jeff Sullivan of <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/roberto-osuna-is-just-about-perfect/">FanGraphs</a> wrote a paean to him just three weeks ago, calling him &#8220;just about perfect.&#8221; No big deal, right?
Uh&#8230; maybe not, actually.
Keegan Matheson of MLB.com has been especially on top of what Osuna&#8217;s pitch mix and his velocity has looked like in his last two starts, and it&#8217;s not been typical of him. Which doesn&#8217;t necessarily make it a big deal&#8230; but it&#8217;s interesting.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550">
Unusual pitch mix for Osuna in that inning. Of his 27 pitches, 13 were sliders, 7 were two-seamers, and only one four-seamer. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueJays?src=hash">#BlueJays</a>
&mdash; Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeeganMatheson/status/891384640824594435">July 29, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-width="550" data-lang="en" data-dnt="true" data-partner="jetpack">Osuna&#39;s velocity was off that inning, too (small sample). His 7 two-seamers averaged 92.5 mph, down from season average of 94.83.. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueJays?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlueJays</a>&mdash; Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeeganMatheson/status/891385102776881153?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 29, 2017</a></blockquote>
Those two tweets were from Saturday. And then these are from today:
<a href="https://twitter.com/KeeganMatheson/status/892220074706251776">https://twitter.com/KeeganMatheson/status/892220074706251776</a>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550">
Osuna is working almost exclusively with his slider and cutter here, which isn&#39;t normal. Velocity isn&#39;t 100% normal, either. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueJays?src=hash">#BlueJays</a>
&mdash; Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeeganMatheson/status/892221049420623872">August 1, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550">
Osuna leaned on the cutter seven times that inning, including the walkoff. They averaged 90.8 mph, down from his season average of 92.63 mph
&mdash; Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeeganMatheson/status/892222191483355136">August 1, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-width="550" data-lang="en" data-dnt="true" data-partner="jetpack">At the same time, Osuna&#39;s 2015/16 cutter velocity was lower and effective. But... that pitch mix and velo hasn&#39;t been right lately <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueJays?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlueJays</a>&mdash; Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) <a href="https://twitter.com/KeeganMatheson/status/892222380063510528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 1, 2017</a></blockquote>
What does it mean? Maybe nothing. But somebody should probably ask him if he&#8217;s OK! We&#8217;ve reached the stage of the season where it they might as well be careful about it if his arm&#8217;s barking at him or something. Not that I&#8217;m saying it&#8217;s that &#8212; or anything! &#8212; it&#8217;s just&#8230; something to keep monitoring.
* * *
<h1>Is This It For José Bautista?</h1>
Not a question any Jays fan with a soul will particularly want to think about, but this is maybe where we&#8217;re at.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550">
Am I crazy or was that a 2-0 fastball, up and over the plate, that Jose Bautista was very late on? Sigh.
&mdash; Despacito Gaston (@DrewGROF) <a href="https://twitter.com/DrewGROF/status/892217772289208322">August 1, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-width="550" data-lang="en" data-dnt="true" data-partner="jetpack">That press conference next May in the bowels of the Trop is gonna be tough to watch.&mdash; Andrew Stoeten (@AndrewStoeten) <a href="https://twitter.com/AndrewStoeten/status/892218439212904448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 1, 2017</a></blockquote>
Bautista was 0-for-5 with a strikeout tonight. His wRC+ for the season has sunk to 89. He&#8217;s hit 16 home runs so far this season, which puts him about on pace to get to the 22 he hit last year, but that&#8217;s a small bright spot in an ugly set of numbers. His 23.7% strikeout rate is the worst since his four team rookie year of 2004. His ISO has slipped from .285 in 2015 to .217 last year to .169. His slugging percentage sits at just .385 &#8212; before this his worst since 2010 was last year&#8217;s .452 mark, and before that a .498 in 2013.
He&#8217;s below replacement level by WAR. His defence isn&#8217;t good. His 1.4 WAR last season was hardly inspiring &#8212; and even then there was hope that the leg injuries he dealt with were sapping his power and that he might bounce back when at full health. This year he&#8217;s played in all but one game, and yet&#8230; this. He&#8217;s slashing .215/.324/.385 right now.
Bautista at his peak was great. Good fucking lord he was great. But this is a long way from his peak.
José will be a free agent after this season, as there&#8217;s no way that the Blue Jays pick up their end of his $17 million option. He&#8217;s a hitter with an incredible past, but he&#8217;ll be 37 years old, and surely will only be looked at as a DH. The market for him will be thin, to say the least. The market for him at the trade deadline was nonexistent. Will a big league contract even be out there for him?
When you think of the kinds of sad seasons that come at the ends of careers of great sluggers, don&#8217;t they sorta look like this?
Cheer loud and cheer hard for mighty José these next two months, my friends. It&#8217;s been a great run.

Well that was no fun. The Jays, after being up 6-0 at one point in Monday night's game, were walked off by the empty husk of the Chicago White Sox, who I believe had the likes of <a href="https://twitter.com/lrgmnn/status/813635533658144768">Rey McSriff and Bobson Dugnutt</a> in their lineup.

And so, with the trade deadline in the rear view, the long final two months of the 2017 Blue Jays season begins.

Ugh.

I usually try to keep focused on the positive in this great sea of unrestrained, half-witted, cynical, braying negativity that we call fandom (especially on the internet), but that's a tough ask tonight. That was shitty and stupid. And even if they'd won -- which they should have and almost did! -- I was ready in that ninth inning to face some rather dark questions.

Now it all feels worse, and like piling on. But here we are. We're gonna do it anyway...
* * *

<h1>What's Up With Roberto Osuna?</h1>
Roberto Osuna wasn't exactly getting blasted around the yard in this one. He wasn't awful. He managed to record a strikeout, and was punished by an infield single, a hit by pitch, a blooper, and one actually decently struck ball.

Normally I'd laugh off an outing like that. Even coming,  as this one did, after a similarly unfortunate performance in Saturday's loss to the Angels.

Osuna's been great this year! Jeff Sullivan of <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/roberto-osuna-is-just-about-perfect/">FanGraphs</a> wrote a paean to him just three weeks ago, calling him "just about perfect." No big deal, right?

Uh... maybe not, actually.

Keegan Matheson of MLB.com has been especially on top of what Osuna's pitch mix and his velocity has looked like in his last two starts, and it's not been typical of him. Which doesn't necessarily make it a big deal... but it's interesting.

https://twitter.com/KeeganMatheson/status/891384640824594435

[tweet https://twitter.com/KeeganMatheson/status/891385102776881153 hide_thread='true']

Those two tweets were from Saturday. And then these are from today:

[tweet https://twitter.com/KeeganMatheson/status/892220074706251776 hide_thread='true']

https://twitter.com/KeeganMatheson/status/892221049420623872

https://twitter.com/KeeganMatheson/status/892222191483355136

[tweet https://twitter.com/KeeganMatheson/status/892222380063510528 hide_thread='true']

What does it mean? Maybe nothing. But somebody should probably ask him if he's OK! We've reached the stage of the season where it they might as well be careful about it if his arm's barking at him or something. Not that I'm saying it's that -- or anything! -- it's just... something to keep monitoring.
* * *

<h1>Is This It For José Bautista?</h1>
Not a question any Jays fan with a soul will particularly want to think about, but this is maybe where we're at.

https://twitter.com/DrewGROF/status/892217772289208322

[tweet https://twitter.com/AndrewStoeten/status/892218439212904448 hide_thread='true']

Bautista was 0-for-5 with a strikeout tonight. His wRC+ for the season has sunk to 89. He's hit 16 home runs so far this season, which puts him about on pace to get to the 22 he hit last year, but that's a small bright spot in an ugly set of numbers. His 23.7% strikeout rate is the worst since his four team rookie year of 2004. His ISO has slipped from .285 in 2015 to .217 last year to .169. His slugging percentage sits at just .385 -- before this his worst since 2010 was last year's .452 mark, and before that a .498 in 2013.

He's below replacement level by WAR. His defence isn't good. His 1.4 WAR last season was hardly inspiring -- and even then there was hope that the leg injuries he dealt with were sapping his power and that he might bounce back when at full health. This year he's played in all but one game, and yet... this. He's slashing .215/.324/.385 right now.

Bautista at his peak was great. Good fucking lord he was great. But this is a long way from his peak.

José will be a free agent after this season, as there's no way that the Blue Jays pick up their end of his $17 million option. He's a hitter with an incredible past, but he'll be 37 years old, and surely will only be looked at as a DH. The market for him will be thin, to say the least. The market for him at the trade deadline was nonexistent. Will a big league contract even be out there for him?

When you think of the kinds of sad seasons that come at the ends of careers of great sluggers, don't they sorta look like this?

Cheer loud and cheer hard for mighty José these next two months, my friends. It's been a great run.

Awful Thoughts After An Awful Loss: What’s Up With Roberto Osuna and Is This It For José Bautista?

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