Mike Puma of the New York Post reports that the Mets have shown interest in Jose Bautista, who was released by the Atlanta Braves yesterday.
Bautista had signed a minor-league deal with the Braves in the offseason and played his first game with the Braves on May 4.
The 37-year old was the team’s third baseman for most of this month and struggled as he hit .143/.250/.343 with two home runs and five RBI to go along with 12 strikeouts.
His defense wasn’t much better as the slugger had -2 DRS at the hot corner in only 61 1/3 innings at the position.
However, that was his first season playing that many innings at the position since 2011.
Bautista was one of the most feared power hitters in the game from 2010-2015 and has a career slash line of .249/.361/.480 with 333 home runs.
Last season, it appeared his age started to catch up with him as he only hit .203/.308/.366 with 23 homers and 65 RBI while striking out 170 times in 587 at-bats.
The former Toronto Blue Jay could provide the team with a nice bench piece, though, with the ability to play the outfield and both corner infield spots.
With Yoenis Cespedes, Juan Lagares, and Todd Frazier all currently on the disabled list, the Mets could use some depth at all of those positions.
The outfield could especially use it as the team currently is patroling Jay Bruce, Michael Conforto, and Brandon Nimmo, which presents a problem as none of them are right-handed hitters. That means that if the team faces a tough lefty, they either have to stick with them in the outfield or turn to options like Phillip Evans, Wilmer Flores, or even Jose Reyes.
One thing that could hinder Jose Bautista’s chances of signing with the Mets is his reputation of not being a great team player, between his infamous bat-flip in the 2015 ALDS and his public display of anger with the Blue Jays organization when discussing his next contract the in 2016.
Bautista would almost certainly sign a league minimum salary deal if the team were to actually agree to bring him aboard.
