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Blue Jays Extend Edwin Encarnacion

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | July 12, 2012 at 2:05pm CDT

2:05pm: The deal guarantees Encarnacion $29MM, including a $2MM buyout for the $10MM club option in 2016, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets. Encarnacion will earn annual salaries of $8MM, $9MM and $10MM.

10:17am: Edwin Encarnacion has been traded, claimed, non-tendered and designated for assignment in the last three years. His next three years figure to be considerably more peaceful. The Blue Jays announced that they signed Encarnacion to a three-year, $27MM contract extension. The deal covers the 2013-15 seasons and includes a $10MM club option for 2016.

Edwin Encarnacion - Blue Jays (PW)

Encarnacion, 29, was on track to hit free agency this coming offseason. The Wasserman Media Group client has enjoyed a breakout season so far in 2012, with 23 home runs and a .295/.382/.565 batting line through 356 plate appearances. Encarnacion has career batting line of .264/.341/.465 in eight seasons with the Blue Jays and Reds.

Encarnacion is known for his power, not his defense, but he has successfully transitioned to first base this year. He has split his time between first base and DH in 2012, and figures to continue in that role for the duration of his extension.

The deal is roughly comparable to the free agent contracts signed by Michael Cuddyer (three years, $31.5MM) and Josh Willingham (three years, $21MM) last offseason. However, those two players signed on the open market. 

Photo courtesy of US Presswire.

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Toronto Blue Jays Transactions Edwin Encarnacion

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108 Comments

  1. yabud

    13 years ago

    Eddy!!!

    Reply
    • Anonymous Mcgee

      13 years ago

      nice deal

      Reply
  2. Ikannoka

    13 years ago

    Reasonable extension for Jays

    Reply
  3. shockey12 2

    13 years ago

    Well…I guess we’re not trading him.

    Reply
  4. SalvatoreG

    13 years ago

    That’s a nice deal for both sides!

    Reply
  5. Connor Rosine

    13 years ago

    With an option. 

    Good times to be a Blue Jay fan.

    Reply
    • Miguel Arias

      13 years ago

      Not really. 

      Reply
      • Morley C

        13 years ago

         Don’t like it, jump off the bandwagon.

        Reply
    • not_brooks

      13 years ago

      Aside from not being able to keep any of your starting pitchers healthy, right?

      Reply
  6. Guest 4443

    13 years ago

    Now that the Giants can take on this salary:

    To San Francisco:
    1B Edwin Encarnacion

    To Toronto:
    1B Aubrey Huff
    93 pieces of Lincecum’s hair since that was the last time Toronto has won the WS

    Reply
    • Howard

      13 years ago

      aubrey huff? lol really? no… really??? 

      Reply
      • Javier Mejia

        13 years ago

        obviously a homer. is it that hard to tell, dam(n). . . .

        Reply
    • ice_hawk1002

      13 years ago

      aubrey huff still plays? 

      Reply
    • Kurisu Rg

      13 years ago

       Nah, Aubrey is too busy sharing therapy sessions with his old pal Khalil Greene
      (this might get me banned…)

      Reply
  7. Toronto310

    13 years ago

    I like the deal, if they didnt they might have giving him a 12.5 mil qualifing offer, 50/50 he accepts that. So in eccence they bought 2 more years for 15 mil.

    Reply
  8. therednorth

    13 years ago

    For someone who could hit 35-40 HRs this year, that’s a very reasonable price, not to mention the commitment ends before he gets old.

    Reply
    • SalvatoreG

      13 years ago

      It kind of reminds me of the Joey Bats deal. Jays signed Bats to a reasonable deal once he went nuts becoming MLB HR champ, taking a chance on a player hoping he keeps it up, and the player gets the financial security. Very similar circumstances with Eddy. 

      Reply
    • Jon Stark

      13 years ago

      and he can actually play a passable 1B. 

      Reply
      • Lunchbox45

        13 years ago

        he’s actually pretty decent at 1B, its been a nice surprise.

        Reply
        • Ben_Cherington

          13 years ago

          Well he was never called E3

          Reply
        • Jon Stark

          13 years ago

          ya it has been a very nice surprise.

          Reply
      • John Hruska

        13 years ago

        E5 could always position himself, move his feet and catch – the man just couldn’t throw! That is the reason why we (the Jays) still have a hole in left field. Love the extension, I’ve told my friends before he could be our Ortiz.

        Reply
  9. JesseeA

    13 years ago

    Interesting, but it seems a bit risky. A career OPS of .805, and he only had two years prior to this season where he topped an .800 OPS. Since he’s not good defensively, he’ll be of little use if he doesn’t continue to produce.

    He looks to hit 35-40 home runs this year, but he’s never topped 26 in his career.

    Reply
    • Mike R Christian

      13 years ago

      people said the same thing about bautista’s extension…look how that turned out…risk = potential reward

      Reply
      • Rabbitov

        13 years ago

        Any argument here is gonna be Bautista vs. Lind, just saying.  

        Reply
        • Lunchbox45

          13 years ago

          Lind was a good gamble.. he literally had to become one of the worst full time players in the league to make that deal not look good.

          Reply
    • Jaysfan724

      13 years ago

      He’s made what? 1 error this year at first base?  I have no problem with EE at 1st base for the next 3 years.

      Reply
    • Jon Stark

      13 years ago

      I take it that you probably haven’t been watching the Jays the last few years. First thing, he is decent at first base. He has more mobility and range then some first basemen in the league. Second, he has been mashing the ball consistently since last June (2011). Third, he has made a noticeable mechanical adjustment that has payed consistent dividends. Fourth, he has been running the bases really well this year particularly for a person with his pop. Fifth, a couple of EE’s down years need to be viewed as negatively impacted by a recurring wrist injury (and maybe the psychological disaster that came with playing 3B).   Once you take all of these things into account and you see that he is top 15 in wRC in the last calendar year, then I think the extension looks really great for both sides.

      Reply
    • TheodoreRoosevelt

      13 years ago

      Career stats don’t always tell the whole story; Encarnacion has thrived since being moved from 3B. He has a .296/.366/.527 line when playing 1B or DH, and that development has been evident to any Blue Jays fan watching for the past couple of years. 

      Reply
  10. Philippe Walkden

    13 years ago

    Great Extension!

    Reply
  11. Jaysfan724

    13 years ago

    This is a really great deal, and this has great potential to be just as good as the Bautista deal.  Jays have a solid 1,2,3,4 combo in the lineup for a few years now. Great work AA!

    Reply
    • jill

      13 years ago

       Now go forth and find ye some pitching!

      Reply
  12. Lunchbox45

    13 years ago

    Wow AA is such a ninja!
    First part of the King Felix & Justin Upton Trade.Waiting for the other shoe to drop.

    Most team friendly deal in the league, AA is a Genius..

    did i miss anything?

    Reply
    • Toronto310

      13 years ago

      Bautista is the most team friendly deal, but EE is a solid signing, it was going to be interesting if AA would offer him qualifing offer at 12.5 to net a draft pick or not, but  that is moot now. If he provides 100 hr over the next 3 years, its a steal.

      Reply
      • Kurisu Rg

        13 years ago

         Jered Weaver has the most team-friendly deal in the league.

        Reply
    • Jason

      13 years ago

      Are you saying that Edwin is going to be a part of a deal for Upton or Felix?

      Reply
    • the_show

      13 years ago

      The man hasn’t even built a playoff team before let’s hold off on the AA coronation…

      Reply
    • Alex Grady

      13 years ago

      Way to confuse everybody.

      Reply
  13. Kiran Raul

    13 years ago

    “Most team friendly deal in the league, AA is a Genius..”

    Evan Longoria disagrees

    Reply
    • Jaysfan724

      13 years ago

      The Rays took into account all the times he would be on the DL, so technically it evens out.

      Reply
      • Ben_Cherington

        13 years ago

        I chuckled

        Reply
    • zolttt

      13 years ago

      evan longoria reads this website more than any other player in the league, because he is always on the DL 

      Reply
  14. TheodoreRoosevelt

    13 years ago

    Fans were saying that about the Lind contract, to be fair. But like Lind’s deal, it’s a good gamble that any of us would make. 

    Reply
    • Jaysfan724

      13 years ago

      The Jays have made worse deals than Lind.  Lind isn’t even really breaking the bank with his contract, it’s just he played so bad the beginning of this year he barely earned a penny of it.  It’s the risk you take, unfortunately all of them won’t work out.  But when they do…you’re Jose Bautista.

      Reply
      • TheodoreRoosevelt

        13 years ago

        Yep, that’s my point. You can’t usually judge a contract at the time of its inking (e.g. “bargain”), you can only judge whether it was a worthy gamble. Both EE and Lind’s extensions represent/ed good rolls of the dice.

        Reply
      • djdrysdale

        13 years ago

        Yeah, I wouldn’t call Lind’s a bad contact considering the context under which it was signed. I don’t think there were many signs that he was going to tank as badly as he did, and it wasn’t like they threw twenty million or ten years at him. It was a reasonable risk. So is this. 

        Reply
  15. caseym

    13 years ago

    Great deal. Watch him mash with some cost certain future ahead of him!

    Reply
  16. jill

    13 years ago

    I marvel at the Blue Jays coaching staff!

    There were so many problems along the way with EE and his development.  Looky here….they got another player that frustrated his former teams (Jays included!) hitting like everyone thought he could.  All the Jays coaches get bonuses!

     

    Reply
  17. Kevin S

    13 years ago

    hitting coaches: A+
    pitching coaches: F

    Reply
    • Jason

      13 years ago

      Murphy has helped about half of the Jays hitters and had pretty much the opposite affect on the other half.

      Reply
  18. Kevin S

    13 years ago

    i would really really want jays to get one of the big 3 starting pitchers to compete
    hernandez, hamels or greinke
    wandy or garza would do as long as our best prospects arent gone
    cooper or gomes is fine
    i think cooper or gomes is gone for sure this year (with good trade value) for a starting pitcher

    Reply
    • mwagner26

      13 years ago

       I hope you don’t mean Felix Hernandez, because if we trade him, we’re going to take your entire farm system.  I think the Jays will be huge on Greinke and/or Hamels.

      Reply
      • Jason

        13 years ago

        Not to mention Cooper or Gomes would be nothing more than a throw in on any Wandy or Garza deal.  

        Reply
  19. diesel2410

    13 years ago

    Maybe the Jays should focus on pitching for once…

    Reply
    • Jason

      13 years ago

      They have been.  They’ve been focusing on the fact that they have been brutally unlucky in regards to the rash of injuries to their pitchers.

      Reply
    • La A

      13 years ago

      They have,Your obviously not a Jays fan. They have high upside pitchers is low minors and it will take a couple of years for them to come up.

      Reply
  20. joeblowto

    13 years ago

    Prediction: Felix will be going to Toronto. Snider, Lind, Escobar and a pitcher going to Seattle.

    Reply
    • aricollins

      13 years ago

      Haha, why would the Ms ever do that? Which of those guys will help them when they’re next competitive?

      Felix would bring back a far better haul than that. Think Toronto’s best prospects, not the players you think they can do without.

      Reply
      • Jaysfan724

        13 years ago

        People love to think other teams would want players their current team doesn’t want anymore.  Hey! Lets throw in Cordero too, that might ice the cake for the trade.

        Reply
      • cyberboo

        13 years ago

        Toronto’s best prospects are pitchers.  Seattle traded their number 2 pitcher Pineda and a B prospect for an overhyped catcher named Montero and Noesi who flamed out in the majors.  Hernandez makes 20 M a season which is an albatross contract and when was the last time he won 15 games, let alone 20.  Would Seattle trade Paxton, Hultzen, Walker, and Franklin for Hamels?  I highly doubt it and Hamels has outpitched Hernandez.  If Seattle wouldn’t be that stupid, why would anyone think Toronto is, especially when you see the trades AA pulls off that other Gm’s only dream about.  If Seattle picks up 90 percent of his salary, they might get two elite prospects, but they would have to eat most of his salary in the same way teams have to absorb cost to trade players.  Greinke has outpitched Hernandez and he too has a Cy Young, but teams will obtain him for 1 elite prospect, 1 B, plus perhaps 2 C class players.  Greinke also costs a lot less in salary.  Only in Seattle would they want five elite prospects for the same player.  lol.  Dream on.  The best pitcher in the game is Halladay and he was acquired with 1 elite prospect, 1 B prospect and a C prospect. The fans see things like this.  For teams to acquire one of their players, you sell the farm to get them.  If Seattle wants the same player, they will offer a couple of B prospects and see it as a fair trade.  lol.  It doesn’t and never has worked like that.  lol.  

        Reply
    • Kevin S

      13 years ago

       norris, syndergaard, cooper might get the deal done

      Reply
      • Jon Stark

        13 years ago

        I hope this isn’t serious, because that’s not even close. Also, Cooper doesn’t really add much their.

        Reply
    • Jon Stark

      13 years ago

      More like JPA, Marisnick, Sanchez, and Norris.

      Reply
    • Javier Mejia

      13 years ago

      yeah not even close.

      Reply
  21. aricollins

    13 years ago

    He’d have to be an average player the next three years to be worth it. He’s got some upside and downside, but “average player” sounds about right.

    Fair deal.

    Reply
    • ice_hawk1002

      13 years ago

      average is selling him a bit short, his career OPS is .805, and at 1B he isnt costing you on defense anymore.

      Reply
      • aricollins

        13 years ago

        He hasn’t met the average OPS for a first baseman even once in his career until now. And that’s with being 

        Again, not saying he’s not average or above-average now, which makes the deal fair. Just that he’s been a below-average player until now, and you have to take that into account when projecting him into the future. (Which Toronto clearly has, as this deal is paying him like an average 1B.)

        Reply
        • ice_hawk1002

          13 years ago

          apologies, I wasnt thinking positionally. thing is, the average 1B is not what he used to be. wOBA has dropped nearly 30 points since 2009, wRC has dropped 10 points, and OPS has dropped nearly 70 points. and its been a steady decline, not a single season blip. EE’s career numbers are substantially better than what the average 1B has produced during the current downtrend, so he would seem likely to remain that way especially factoring in his current excellent season and mechanical adjustments.

          Reply
          • aricollins

            13 years ago

            His numbers during the more offense-oriented era are better than the average 1B now, but that’s not really a valid comparison, is it? It does mean that his offense is all the more impressive now, even with the hitter’s park,  but you have to compare Encarnacion in 2008 to other 1B in 2008 and so on.

            Regardless of my projection of this as a merely-fair deal due to regression, here’s hoping that he repeats this kind of performance next year! I’m a Sox fan, but I’d love to see the Jays really become competitive and make the AL East even more amazing. Plus, I’d love it if he transitions fully from E5, the kind-of-decent-hitting, terrible-gloved 3B to an okay-he’s-still-poor-with-the-glove-but-man-he-can-really-frickin-hit 1B. Stories like that are fun!

            Reply
  22. bigpat

    13 years ago

    Good news for Jays fans, shows they want to contend, now all they have to do is patch up that rotation and they’ll have a very good team. That may be a job that really gets done in the offseason though.

    I am a fan of EE, there is a chance of him regressing as there always is, but his bat was very strong this year and came on before the middle of last season as well. 30 HR bat for under 10M, sign me up. 

    Reply
    • Runtime

      13 years ago

      Don’t forget about the 50HR guy they got for under 15M…

      Reply
  23. Jeff Snedden

    13 years ago

    I don’t think anybody in baseball gives enough credit to Dwayne Murphy.  Four years ago, any team in baseball could have had Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion.  They were both majorly flawed hitters who seemed to be destined for bench/utility roles at best.  When Bautista was with the Pirates, he was a TERRIBLE hitter, especially with RISP.  Encarnacion was the same, no patience and a swing with obvious holes in it.  Since 2009 when he took over as the Blue Jays hitting coach, Murphy has turned those two into stars.  He even turned Rajai Davis into a serviceable major leaguer.  I would think any team looking for a manager this season or next winter should seriously make an offer to Murphy.

    Reply
    • Jon Stark

      13 years ago

      Rajai Davis is not anything more than he was with the Angels in 2010. He is a serviceable major leaguer, but probably not an everyday OFer. 

      Reply
      • Rick Yu

        13 years ago

        Rajai played for the Athletics, not the Angels. Definitely a solid player coming off the bench with tremendous speed.

        Reply
    • Jon Stark

      13 years ago

      Also, how does that qualify him to be a manager?

      Reply
    • ice_hawk1002

      13 years ago

      he seems to have been very good for a few guys, particularly in the power department, and i like his philosophy on pitch selection and controlled aggression at the plate. other than that, we shouldnt read too much into the effects of a hitting coach.

      Reply

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