The Trade Deadline Looms for Jose Bautista

Here we are just under seven hours away from the 4pm non-waiver Trade Deadline, and I can’t help but think Alex Anthopoulos isn’t quite finished his work.

As most fellow Bautista Appreciation Society members, I’m hoping, praying and wishing that the Blue Jays don’t trade Jose Bautista.

In his second straight game, he reached base in every at bat – but more importantly, Jose clubbed his 31st home run of the season and just the second grand slam for the Jays this season.

This could be me being a little ambivalent here, but do you think it’s possible Jose Bautista drove his asking price so high this week that other teams couldn’t afford him?

Not saying that one week of play determines a players value, yet for teams desperate to acquire some power … how could  you go wrong with MLB’s home run leader?

At the same time, Alex Anthopoulos is likely thinking the Blue Jays would be best served to keep Jose Bautista – at least for the short term. As Mike Wilner said, if the Jays do in fact deal Jose, it’s probably going to be for guys we’ve never heard of before. It isn’t going to be a top level prospect, but merely a couple of no-name prospects.

In my mind, I think it’s safer to stick with the quantifiable talent rather than roll the dice on a couple of prospects. I’ve said this before about Bautista, but even if his power drops off significantly next year, his defensive prowess will still be there. He’ll still be able to gun down runners at the plate and he’ll still be able to throw out runners on a line right to third base.

And it’s also funny how the 29 year old journeyman from the Dominican Republic has suddenly turned into one of the character guys in the clubhouse. Uncle Jose is stepping into the mentor position for guys like Yunel Escobar, and you can’t really put a price tag on that.

When the 4pm Trade Deadline looms, I’ll be watching the clock like a hawk hoping that nothing happens to Jose Bautista. Because I would hate for the Bautista Appreciation Society to have to pack up and move it’s things to another city.