The Blue Jays and first baseman/designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion met today to begin the process of exploring an extension, reports Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. The Rep 1 Baseball client has gone on record recently to express his desire to remain with Toronto. The 33-year-old told the Toronto media last week that ideally, he would finish his career with the Blue Jays, as Davidi notes within his column.
Encarnacion is wrapping up a contract extension that guaranteed him $27MM from the 2013-15 seasons and included a $10MM club option for the upcoming 2016 campaign. That option “decision” was a no-brainer for the Blue Jays after Encarnacion batted .277/.372/.557 with 39 home runs in 146 games. That type of elite production has become par for the course for Encarnacion, who, like teammate Jose Bautista, experienced a late breakout in Toronto and has now blossomed into one of baseball’s premier power hitters. Dating back to the 2012 season, Encarnacion has batted .274/.371/.549, averaging 38 home runs and 28 doubles per season. And, unlike many prolific home run hitters, Encarnacion boasts one of the lowest strikeout rates in the league; across that four-year span, he’s punched out at just a 13.8 percent rate while walking in 12.5 percent of his plate appearances.
As such, despite his advanced age and limited defensive value, Encarnacion would be among the most in-demand free agents on next year’s open market were he to reach free agency. Defensively limited sluggers like Nelson Cruz and Victor Martinez have secured significant four-year extensions beginning with their age-34 and age-36 seasons, respectively, and Encarnacion’s camp would have an easy case to surpass those $57MM (Cruz) and $68MM (Martinez) contracts with ease. He’ll be two years younger than was Martinez at the time of his signing (without a recent knee surgery under his belt), and he has a considerably more consistent track record than Cruz did upon entering the open market (without a recent PED suspension on his record).
Encarnacion would be a lock to receive and reject a qualifying offer in the event that an extension cannot be brokered, and if the Jays endure an unexpected collapse and find themselves well out of the race come late July, Encarnacion could fetch a considerable haul on the summer trade market. All of that is to say that Toronto isn’t in danger of losing Encarnacion for nothing, but with him and Bautista both eligible for free agency following the season, there’s likely a sense of urgency to get something completed. Recent extension talks with Bautista may have increased the Jays’ motivation to work something out with Encarnacion, as Bautista reportedly sought a deal spanning more than five years and exceeding $150MM in total value (though his reported target in terms of annual value was under $30MM per year). Bautista plainly stated that he wasn’t interested in negotiating beyond the point of naming his asking price, making a long-term deal between the two sides seem unlikely.
Knowing that one of the cornerstones of their offense could very well be embarking on his final season with the team, the Blue Jays could feel some pressure to lock in a new deal with their other franchise slugger. Any talks between the two sides will need to be wrapped up before the conclusion of Spring Training, as Encarnacion has said that he doesn’t want talks to linger into the regular season.
I sure hope they sign Edwin, a real rock in the middle of the line up, he’s put up outstanding numbers, as mentioned, is a team player, and bleeds blue. He hasn’t had much protection batting behind him either, although Bautista has walked a lot in front of him a lot. Edwin never causes any controversy, and will play and battle through injuries, and can still produce, and he isn’t totally awful at first base, however, I think his starts there will likely be limited, as he handles the DH role very well.
Enough of this protection stuff, Bautista get’s walked infront of Encarnacion 100+ times a year and he’s been doing that even with a guy like Adam Lind or Vernon Wells batting cleanup behind him. The difference is negligible because putting a guy on for free is not how you win games in baseball unless you have a pitcher batting behind you.
By the way, Bautista is unjustifiably bashed by the media in this country when he says that he gives management a number on what would sign him today. Basically the only people who even said he asked for $150M+ is guys who are Bell Media employees who work with TSN (Westhead, Griffin, Arthur) the Sportsnet guys who would probably get a leak if they wanted to paint Bautista in a bad picture to gain leverage in negotiations have asked Bautista if the $150M figure is accurate and he responded by saying “false”. He even said in a recent video interview on TSN that the figure is merely speculation.
Both are elite sluggers in whatever case, I’d rather have Bautista because his body type and elite plate discipline and even his swing with the extreme pull tendency tend to age extremely well even if he is 2 years older than Encarnacion.
Lol k bud. You must of had a rotten day at work? Wanna fight? Lol
I really don’t care about Bautista, he comes across as a selfish, me type player. His defence is in decline, and I’m glad he made his demands public, makes it easy to part with him. Baseball rosters are so fluid, players come and go. Thankfully, the blue jays have some players I’d much rather watch now than Bautista, namely Donaldson, who will require a massive amount of money to resign, and Tulo. The jays got great value out of Bautista, no need to sign him to a monster deal that handcuffs the team going forward. I’d rather Edwin anyways, he’s more of a team player, doesn’t cause drama all the time, doesn’t piss umpires off, which reflects on the team as a whole. Thanks for the home run last year. See ya.
You are going to be very upset when Bautista gets his name up on the Level of Excellence I guess.
No, not at all. It’s just time to move forward with the roster. He was a great player. I didn’t care for his antics with the umpires, but otherwise, he been a great Jay.
… looks good on Bautista.
Tigers and Martinez was a risky overpay on a player with knee injury history. I would not be desperate if I was the Jays. If EE agrees to a reasonable number fine otherwise just play out the season. It is no slam dunk that the Jays are a playoff team this year. American fans must remember that Blue Jay fans buy tickets in Canadian dollars which is worth about 75 cents. EE gets paid in American dollars so even a 70 million contract is actually 100 million in Canadian dollars.
This type of posting about TORONTO?
Christ…as if it matters.
Get him locked down now so his focus is laser sharp all season; a Blue Jay for life. Keep all parties happy. This will also put some pressure on Bautista if he does, indeed, want to retire a Blue Jay.
In a perfect world we would keep them both. In a perfect world we would field a fantasy league team. Let’s stay grounded in reality. We get either EE or Bautista. EE has made it very clear; he loves this team & this city. He works hard to be an asset to the team & represent Canada, Toronto & the Blue Jays always.
Hitting; they are equal. They will both be DH players full time in the next 2 years. They are both injury prone, but play through injuries when they can. Edwin has a lower strike out rate. He sees a ball like nobody else. He doesn’t have the drama or bullshit at the plate, like Jose does.
Give me the slightly younger Edwin over the tempermental diva Bautista any day. I appreciate what Bautista has done with the Jays, but I think it is time for him to move on.
He will only get a 5 year contract at his age from the Yankees & he absolutely hates the Yankees. The Yankee fans hate him. His time would be so miserable there. It would be bitter-sweet to watch his final playing years be ones of torment because he allowed greed & pride to cloud his judgement, but no team needs 2 full time DH players.