Phillies acquire Jose Bautista in waiver trade with Mets

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia Phillies have acquired veteran slugger Jose Bautista from the New York Mets for a player to be named later or cash.

Bautista batted .196 with 11 homers and 42 RBIs for the Braves and Mets this season. The Phillies entered Tuesday night’s game against Washington 3½ games behind Atlanta in the NL East.

A six-time All-Star for Toronto between 2010-2015, Bautista has 342 career homers. The right-handed hitter is expected to come off the bench for the Phillies.

Philadelphia has been active, acquiring infielder Asdrubal Cabrera and two-time All-Star catcher Wilson Ramos last month and first baseman Justin Bour and lefty reliever Luis Avilan in August.

Right-hander Mark Leiter Jr. was designated for assignment to clear room on the 40-man roster for Bautista.

The Phillies claimed Bautista off revocable waivers from the Mets a day ago, which gave the two teams 48 hours in order to negotiate a potential trade before he’d be pulled back. A player is required to pass through waivers to be traded after July 31.

The Sun-Times added to this report.