Thoughts on Bautista - 50hr...

[D. Bergin]

I think all this recent PED talk is extremely unfair to him.

He's had a great season, especially the 2nd half. I actually picked him up in my fantasy league off the waiver wire, about 3 months into the season. It's a small league and nobody trusted his power would hold up and weren't willing to pick up, what most thought was another Carlos Pena type.

He's a late bloomer. Baseball history is filled with them. It's also filled with guys who had everything go right for one year, and for one reason or another was never able to come close to repeating it again.

Roger Maris was a fairly late bloomer himself. He had two special years, one or two pretty good years, and not much else to speak of, if we're being perfectly honest.

A guy doesn't have to be a superstar from the moment he steps foot in the league, to the moment he leaves, in order to make a mark on the game.

If somebody digs up some other evidence other then, "he's having a really good year for a guy who hasn't had one before", I'll take a look at it and point my judgements if need be. Otherwise, I hate assumptions. People who make them always say "I told you so", when they are right.......but usually aren't quite as forthcoming when they are proven wrong.

I try to think the best of people, until I am actually proven otherwise.

[Anthony S.]

Maris hit 28 homers at the age of 23. 39 homers at the age of 25. 61 homers at the age of 26. He wasn't a late bloomer.

[nebboy]

One way that I start my my fantasy BB league is I look at guys that are in a contract year. They over produce and show signs of greatness, sign a big contract and then PHooooooooooooooooff, until there next big payday. Many, many examples for this.

I call it (bobby bonilla sen-drum)

[peterose4hof]

A guy like Bautista coming out of nowhere is part of what makes baseball so much fun. Plus it's great to give a team with virtually no chance of making the playoffs something to cheer for. As a lifelong Reds fan, I have experienced many a season rooting for individual player achievements because the team is eliminated from playoff contention by early-summer.

[cdn_collector]

Originally Posted by peterose4hof

Plus it's great to give a team with virtually no chance of making the playoffs something to cheer for.

That says it all right there. I didn't get to as many Jays games this year as I'd have liked, but I still watch at least some of just about every game on TV. I gave up on having to worry about fighting for play-off tickets months ago and resorted to cheering for Bautista to break George Bell's team record instead.

As for the PED question, which everyone has thought about at least once, I'm sure, I have to believe he's clean. Maybe I'm naive, but what's the incentive? He's not in a contract year and we're going nowhere near the playoffs. I'm hoping it's the change in his swing from last September. Obviously I don't know for sure [Roger Clemens and Jose Canseco have some history in Toronto right about the time Carlos Delgado hit 44], but I'm going to root for him and assume that at worst, this season is an aberration, but a clean one.


Regards,

Richard.

[Robextend]

He hit 2 more tonight...52 and counting!

[jb217676]

Bautista is killin' it lately! MVP...MVP...MVP...

[ethicsprof]

phenomenal player.
helping me to forget about all the McGwire memorabilia i bought for my nephews a few years back.

best,
barry

[jb217676]

I was watching the Boston-New York game tonight and one of the Red Sox TV commentators brought up Jose Bautista. He said when he first read his notes early last season on Bautista they mentioned he was a good platoon player and a decent bat to come off the bench. He's a little better than that now I would say. Maybe the Red Sox should have made a move on him?

[ElCabron]

If you watch him bat you can see why he has so many homers. The guy does not get cheated on his swings. He takes massive hacks at the ball and when he connects, it travels far.