The disaster that has been the 2013 season for the Toronto Blue Jays continued on Monday as the team announced that their star slugger and most recognizable player Jose Bautista, will be shut down for the season due to a bone bruise on his femur. The team made the announcement through their twitter account.
Blue Jays-Official @BlueJays
“Bautista shut down for rest of season with femur bone bruise. Will be 100 pct for spring training”
Bautista has been out of action since being placed on the 15-day disabled list on August 15th. It is the second straight year that Bautista has missed the end of the season due to injury, as a tendon sheath injury kept him out of much of the second half last season.
Bautista acknowledged the difficulty of seeing a season that had so much promise go up in smoke in his comments on Wednesday.
“Just the timing of everything wasn’t ideal,” said Bautista. “Obviously the fact that we’re not in contention had to play a little bit in the decision-making and the recommendations that the doctor has done. Just the combination of all the factors: timing-wise, our team situation and the type of injury and the extent of the injury, everything was considered to make this decision.”
Bautista tried to play through the pain for about a month, before finally giving up in late August.
“(This is) Really tough,” said Bautista. “I’m one of those players who takes a lot of pride into working out hard and coming in really good shape in the offseason. Unfortunately, I’ve had two impact plays that have prevented me from finishing the season strong in the last two years. I’m hoping to have better luck next year.”
“It’s not exactly how I wanted to end the season,” said Bautista. “There’s not much you can do once you have an injury, once you have sustained it, the only way to heal up is I have no choice but to follow the doctor’s recommendations.”
Manager John Gibbons also shed some light on the situation, acknowledging that the timing and Blue Jays spot in the standings had a lot to do with the decision.
“The doctor says he’s healing fine but realistically, about a week or so from now when he’s ready to go, by the time he cranks it up and gets back into a little shape, the season’s about over anyway,” said manager John Gibbons. “It makes perfect sense to shut it down.”
Bautista finishes the season hitting .259/.358/.498 with 28 home runs and 73 RBIs. With Colby Rasmus and Melky Cabrera also on the disabled list, the Blue Jays will get plenty of time to see the progress of Anthony Gose, Kevin Pillar, and Moises Sierra in their outfield to end the season.
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