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Jose Bautista didn’t do himself many favors in 2016, as he was still good, but also missed time with injury and wasn’t the Joey Bats we all got used to seeing since 2010. It’s a lot easier to believe that a slugger will rebound from a comparatively down year — Bautista’s OPS+ was still a quality 117, but he averaged 156 from 2010 through 2015 — when they aren’t going to be 36 years old, and also when they aren’t seeking a contract that requires you to believe in at least part of their age-37, 38, and so on seasons as well. Bautista asked the Red Sox about their interest, but he was told that Boston didn’t have the money for him, not when they’re trying to stay under the luxury tax threshold. There’s that angle — surely not unique to the Sox — and there’s also the one the Orioles took, when general manager Dan Duquette straight-up told Bautista’s camp that his team’s fans don’t like him so there was no deal to work out.

The Rangers could probably get away with a similar response, if Bautista were even interested in becoming teammates with face-puncher Rougned Odor. Bautista can still play multiple defensive positions, but in the sense he can line up at them: he’s best used as a DH at this point, which likely limits his market further. The Blue Jays are still considering bringing him back, so it’s not as if Bautista is entirely out of destinations, but there are far fewer of them than there would have been had the bet he made on himself back in the spring, when he and the Jays couldn’t agree to an extension, had resulted in a high-quality summer.

Bautista only played in 116 games in 2016 thanks to a hyperextended big toe and a knee sprain, and hit 22 homers with a .234/.366/.452 line. While he struck out 20 percent of the time, a figure that’s not alarming on its own, it was a significant jump from 2015, when he whiffed just 16 percent of the time. It’s also fascinating that there was no cratering of his batting average on balls in play causing his drop in production: Bautista’s BABIP actually went up in 2016, from .237 to .255: in fact, Bautista has only had one "normal" BABIP in the last five years, with the rest of those seasons in this weird, lower range. Unless he dramatically changes his approach late into his career, it’s hard to see that trend changing as he ages and his bat slows further. Someone will still bet on him, but at this point, just who that is remains unclear.