#anthopolous

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ATLANTA | Braves release slumping Bautista, Camargo to play 3B

ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Braves have released Jose Bautista a month after picking up the veteran slugger and will make Johan Camargo their starting third baseman.

General manager Alex Anthopolous said the team made the decision Saturday before Camargo drove in two runs in an 8-1 win over Miami. Camargo, a switch-hitter, will play every day.

The 37-year-old Bautista hit .143 with two homers and five RBIs in 12 games with the Braves after having his contract purchased from Triple-A Gwinnett. The six-time All-Star struck out 12 times in 35 at-bats.

“We agreed, for him, if there wasn’t going to be at-bats here and there wasn’t going to be playing time here, that it was not right for him,” Anthopolous said Sunday.

Bautista played outfield during most of his 14-year career, but the Braves signed him to a minor league contract last month, hoping the former Toronto star could add depth to the National League’s top-scoring offense and shore up third base.

Camargo, a 24-year-old from Panama, was the front-runner to win the job in spring training before suffering an oblique injury that sidelined him for the first 16 games. Utility man Ryan Flaherty began the season at third base and briefly led the NL in hitting, but the Braves were hoping that Camargo would ultimately pass him and Bautista.

Camargo has a .284 career average with six homers and 40 RBIs in 106 games. He filled in at shortstop and didn’t hit that well when Dansby Swanson missed 13 games with left wrist inflammation, but he is hitting .292 in his last 24 at-bats and is an upgrade defensively over Bautista.

“If you look at the surface stats — when Dansby was out they weren’t all that good — the more that we looked at some things, there were some really good indicators that he might be able to perform a lot better than that,” Anthopolous said. “Some exit velocities, bad luck and things like that. Some of the decision making was very good on his part.”

The Braves recalled right-hander Lucas Sims from Triple-A Gwinnett to replace Bautista on the roster.

I know the popular opinion regarding Alex Anthopolous’s departure is to be enraged by the fact the Jays "let him go", but this decision was AA’s and I don’t see how the Bluejays could have done much more.

According to Ken Rosenthal, they offered him a 5 year deal with an opt-out after a year if he felt he wasn't able to continue to do his job under Shapiro. They basically said they want him back, offered a great deal by most accounts WITH a chance to walk away should it not "be the right fit", and Alex still walked. The wheels were in motion long ago to restructure the team with Paul Beeston’s retirement, and people are only really fired up because he became a popular face of the playoff success. Perhaps (and most likely) he was getting a weird vibe through the season (for 1/2 of it, he was "old" AA again with an underachieving team) and maybe he felt with Shapiro looming, he wasn't going to be happy. However, Beeston was retiring and he has said he ran everything past him, so its not like he wasn't used to having someone approving his moves from above.

He knows he is loved by the fans and media here, he can build on something for next year, he said everything has been amazing, and the Jays gave him a chance to keep doing it for 5 years... yet he walked. It wasn't "the right fit". Maybe he expected to be named President as well? That's a lofty expectation considering where they were in the summer when the Jays were making these decisions. His record as a GM before the Tulo trade was 446-465. He had already traded away lots of good young talent in previous deals, then traded most of what was left in a "I need to win now or I'm done" Hail Mary trade period this season. Staying the course would only have solidified his low chances of coming back - based on his career as a GM to that point! I would have understood, and even been happy, had he decided to come back to try again, as I am still buzzing from playoffs like most are - but let's not act like he was a baseball genius who was treated like garbage. He gutted the minor league pitching after 5 years of going nowhere, and they still put a great deal on the table for him to come back. But he had made up his mind. They did all they could and should have done IMO, based on his record as a GM the last 5 years.  He seems like a great guy and I was happy to see him succeed and bring the playoffs back to Toronto.  But most GM’s could improve their team significantly if given the green light to gut the minor league prospect pool and make multiple trades.  It’s like giving someone $100,000 to go buy a car and when they return with a $100,000 car, everyone says “wow I can’t believe you were able to buy a $100,000 car...amazing!”