The Blue Jays made a four-year contract offer to Edwin Encarnacion that was worth “about” $80MM before agreeing to a three-year, $33MM deal with Kendrys Morales, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi first noted that the Jays’ offer to Encarnacion was “likely” in that vicinity. However, despite the addition of Morales, Toronto is still interested in re-signing Encarnacion and remains in the mix for his services, according to Heyman. The Jays feel that Encarnacion can play first base competently enough to coexist on the roster with Morales.
The $80MM offer to Encarnacion is a sizable step up from the team’s reported two-year offer back in Spring Training, though Encarnacion’s robust market seems likely to lead to greater offers. Heyman lists the Astros, Yankees, Rangers and Red Sox as other teams that have at least reached out to Encarnacion, and agent Paul Kinzer tells him that a couple of National League clubs have reached out as well. Certainly, there will be some who are scared off by the notion of playing Encarnacion at first base on an everyday basis, especially as he advances into his late 30s over the life of a four- or five-year deal, but it’s worth noting that Encarnacion has at least graded out as a roughly average defender at first in fairly limited action with the Jays over the past two seasons (0 DRS, +3.3 UZR in 1117 innings).
Toronto general manager Ross Atkins said this weekend that the door is still open for a new deal with Encarnacion, stating that the signing of Morales only “slightly” lessens the chances of a big splash for Encarnacion. However, Atkins also said the team would be aggressive in pursuing one, if not two outfield pieces to add to the mix, and the Jays are also known to be interested in adding left-handed relief help (especially now that Brett Cecil has signed in St. Louis). With so many needs across the board and a number of other clubs interested in Encarnacion’s bat, it’s not clear that the Jays will feel comfortable beating the market in order to retain their star slugger, especially considering the fact that the Morales deal brings another potential 30-homer bat to the table at a considerably more affordable rate.
$75M over 3 years would be fair, but EE wants the years. Gotta think he is dug in at 4 years starting at $25M per.
Agent said his starting point is 5yrs 125 mil. he’ll never get that.
I agree. Going to be interesting to see what the final dollars/years are. I just hope he doesn’t end up with my Red Sox – no offence to jays fans!
All the projections I saw were around 4/96 for EE. It is a difference of 4m per season. I think the Jays will end up increasing there offer. Took them 20 years to get the fans back in the seats to this level. Only the Maple leafs can pack an arena for a losing team year after year.
Short about 4 mil per season, or about the amount they decided to hand Justin Smoak for the next couple years for no good reason in the middle of last season. If the Jays miss out on EE over this amount per year, there will be a lot of unhappy Jays fans. Myself included.
Oh stop lol, Justin Smoak’s contract is crippling no signing. Nonetheless, even if he wasn’t a factor, you still would have to fill his roster spot with someone that costs money too.
It shouldn’t be crippling any signing but the Jays are cheap and that remains a terrible deal. Smoak is a replacement level 1B. I’m sure there is a quad-A guy that would love league minimum to strike out 25%-30% of the time and get on base at 0.300-0.320 clip over 300 PAs.
@movaughn
The Justin Smoak extension is not crippling by any means, but it’s a complete waste of $4.25mm annually (for 2 years).
I’d rather see those funds go towards a backup catcher or some semi-decent bullpen arms. That would’ve been a much better use of funds.
Shapiro is an experienced baseball guy. You’d think he would have made EE a signing priority by offering him the 5x25k. Seldom
does a player with his numbers come along. Guess Shapiro had bigger fish to fry.
You pay for future contribution, not past contribution. You’re crazy if you think EE’s production over the next 5 years would be worth $125M.
I agree with the idea that 5yrs/$125mm is crazy.
But what’s up with that 2 year deal offered back in spring training?
The Jays should’ve just started their offer at 4yrs/$70mm in Spring Training and cut the nonsense.
You are right that Shapiro is an experienced exec which is why he is too smart to go 5/$125 million. That would be insane. What a terrible contract that would be.
Kind of off topic but, the guy on MLB network just predicted that Bautista signs with Seattle, is it just me or does it seem like there is no chance that happens?
I doubt it would happen. The Mariners already have Cruz at DH/OF so he wouldn’t have a real place on their roster
Depends how long they see EE capable of manning 1B part time for. Cruz is only signed another two years, I’m sure they could potentially see a 1B/DH/OF rotation work for a few seasons, before EE becomes completely shot in the field.
Bautista, not EE.
Sigh, I’m having a shocker today.
Same applies, I guess. Two years of Bautista in the field? Maybe tolerable.
The comment was about Bautista, not Encarnacion.
I’m pretty sure most guys on MLB Net and ESPN get paid by the syllable for stuff like that.
It’s not unreasonable for him to ask for a 5th year
The Marlins are going to surprise everyone and sign EE.
Nah I don’t see it. They’ve got a young guy in Bour that looked pretty good – 15 HR in 90 games, 1.3 fWAR -and is making peanuts and under control for a several more years. Plus, they’ve already got one of the better offenses in the NL. If anything, I could see them pursuing Bautista and flipping Yellich or Ozuna for what they really need, a front line starter.
Not sure you’d get a front line starter for just ozuna, maybe both tho
I can see it happening.
Sign EE to a 5yr/$100mm deal, and subsequently trade him after 2017.
The fans cry foul, but the Marlins end up with some nice prospects.
At 33 years old, I’m surprised we aren’t hearing more about him getting offered 5 years. Plenty of top tier guys get offers to cover them into very late 30’s and sometimes early 40’s even and Edwin can’t an offer for 5 years? Seems bizarre to me.
Wow, he’s crazy for not taking 4/80. Does his agent think doing that will drive up his price? Didn’t work for all the other guys who turned down big money like that in the past.
4/80 seems low to me. I think the Jays will have to increase their offer substantially in order to retain EE.
100 Million dollar contracts rarely work out these days.
Yeah man Trout is really hurting the Angels so much right now, agreed.
He is hurting them , he’s so good that he keeps them in the middle of the round in each draft. They should trade him for a major rebuild
Just to show you what a poor idea “Trade Trout” is, there is the small problem of what is compensation.
So from the Cubs, the offsetting players would be a package of Rizzo, Bryant and Arrieta. Those three would offset much of the payroll, controllable years, and WAR expected from Trout.
So you’re Theo, with an opening in CF right now–would you make a deal to get the consensus “best player in MLB”, a once in a generation player to date?
No? Giving up too much, you say? Because that is the sort of deal it would take, and no GM/President wants that kind of pain.
Trades are easy when it isn’t your roster or payroll. But finding equity for a player like Trout isn’t the same as finding equity in trading for a “regular” player. This would be in a different dimension.
Speaking of which, there was mention of Smoak above. He was a “can’t miss” who was key to the Rangers getting Cliff Lee from Seattle. He was as mediocre in Seattle as he’s been in Toronto. As good as we hope prospects will be, there is no guarantee they will play at MLB level. Pull out a history book and revisit the Tigers’ trade with the Marlins for MigCab. Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin were the marquee prospects in that trade; while Miller recently became a bullpen force, he was years of mediocrity as a starter, as was Maybin. Both took years to mature, while Cabrera won a Triple Crown, 2 MVP and a Series appearance in that same frame. The Marlins ultimately got nothing, but they got 2 #1 picks in the trade (plus other nobodies).
Prospects are only prospects until they produce. The offsetting return for Trout (and his full NTC) would be more than other teams would want to give up, assuming they had the talent to begin with.
“He is hurting them , he’s so good that he keeps them in the middle of the round in each draft.”
There’s like five things wrong with this sentence, great work!
I don’t think a Trout to Cubs deal is as impossible as some make it sound. The Cubs could trade Heyward, $50M, 5-8 of their top ten prospects, plus 3-5 lottery tickets.
The Cubs have a good young team team under control for awhile. They don’t need prospects as much as they need production.
If I was the Cubs, I’d go all in and try to win multiple championships over the next five years, and then plan on a rebuild.
Not getting it done. Any trade for Trout pulls from the major league roster (and involves good players). Heyward plus prospects is not a starting point. Some combination of Schwarber/Baez/Russell/Contreras/Rizzo plus prospects is.
How you figure? He’ll get $90-110 million from whomever signs him, and he knows it. Crazy to accept 4/80.
I offered him $30,000 to drive bus.
IMO he’ll get no less than 5 years/$112.5M. That’s an AAV of $22.5M. I bet someone goes to $25M a year for 5 years. It’d be nice to get him for 4 years, but he and Cespedes are the 2 biggest fish out there and they’ll each get what they’re asking for and maybe some extra. MLB free agency is not a place for sanity.
Doubt he gets anywhere near $112.5m unless a surprising bidding war starts brewing, which is unlikely to happen for a guy that many consider to just be a DH, and with the expected top suitor (the Red Sox) not showing much interest. The bat’s elite, but teams don’t really want to cripple their versatility by signing a DH to a 5-year deal. I could see 4/90 getting him, but we’ll see what happens.
The Jays are mart with this offer. That is about what his value is, not will be. If they either increase the years or dollar amount, it would be a crippling mistake. If EE wants more than that, let him get it from another team. This is like the Price situation last year. Sure they are superstar players, but eventually you just gotta know when to stop.
True, that’s a legitimate offer but on the low end of where the market should go, which tells EE they want him back, but they can’t break the bank. You get that number out there, then you’re off the hook if he chooses more.
I hope the Yankees do not beat that offer, I wouldn’t offer more than 4 years and at that money I start to be more interested in Cespedes.
How this, either the Jays sign EE or they don’t go to the playoffs next year, especially if the Yanks or Sox sign him
Yankees will still be trash
I hate the Yankees but they somehow are never actually trash, Girardi is a genius who somehow gets above .500 records with bad teams. No idea how he does it, but he’s singlehandedly preventing them from being trash.
Yanks need SP more then a DH…and as far as the comment of if they don’t sign EE they don’t go to the playoffs…Heard a lot of that with Price last year. Bottom line is if EE gets a huge offer somewhere else he’s gone….cant blame him or the Jays FO for that, it has to make sense for both sides and signing EE for 5yrs and 125 mil doesn’t make sense
Even if they do need SP, free agency isn’t where they’re gonna get it, everyone sucks in that market, they’ll most likely trade for pitching and sign a bat.
The question is who the source was for Davidi. Did the Jays leak it, because they feel by making it public, it will control the bidding? Who knows EE better than the Jays? If they are only offering 4/80MM, it might make other teams hesitant to go much higher. Or did EE’s camp leak it to try to get teams to bid more? That would mean his market is not developing as expected, and they are trying to create more interest in him. Either way, this doesn’t look good for EE.
80 million plus for an aging DH is pretty dang good.
Aging DH is a pretty conservative description of EE. He’s a 33 year old legit middle of the order bat with a good eye and is more than capable of playing the field. He’s been worth 27MM+ each of the last 5 seasons per fangraphs. I’ll be stunned if he doesn’t get 5 years and 100MM+. Of course he won’t be worth it at the end, but he can give you 3 all star worthy years. Teams will pay – – baseball is flush with cash right now.
Good points, all. But another good point, made above, is that you pay NOT for past contribution but for reasonably expected future contribution (not that track record doesn’t factor in at all). I wouldn’t be SHOCKED by any means if he does get that fifth year. But I would be equally unsurprised if he DIDN’T.
Honestly, I think if the Jays throw in an option for year 5, at the same rate, that oughta be reasonable and then some. Whether or not it’s enough to lure The Parrot back, might be another matter…
It was on Tim and Sid when they talked to his agent. He didn’t give specific numbers only round ones.
Nice offer but the leaves of each year’s fall teach us to let things go. Let these two players, EE and JB, go to other teams. Imagine the surprises on their faces when balls get called balls and even full count strikes being called balls if there were to play for other Ale teams.
Yes, the Jays need to shore up their bullpen, but that will come. Look at what the current admins did with last year’s rotation.
Are the Padres willing to listen on Myers? What would it take by the jays? Would it be too much? Is he a viable 1B’er for the Jays? Maybe the Padres also have a lhp bp guy they would include in a package? Thoughts on this?
Would start with Stroman and Tellez. I would rather see them keep the SP unit as is and go after somebody like Dae-Ho Lee and spend the money in the outfield….that is unless they can get EE back. I wouldn’t even mind seeing them take a chance on Singleton.
Adding McCann certainly is a risk, but it absolutely fills three needs at once. The Astros needed lefties, a catcher, and veterans. McCann is all three. Hopefully, he maintains career norms for the next two years.
Die hard Jays fan here. I was wondering your thoughts on this trade. Since E5 and Jose are as good as gone and the Jays really could use 2 outfielders, would a Sanchez for Yelich and Osuna work? Gives the Jays two very solid replacements for those two and fills the Marlins need for an ace. Would the Jays need to add prospects as well? I’m not sure. Sanchez is a stud who’s getting better. But with the addition of Liriano, they can afford to lose one for two players of that caliber.
The Jays have zero interest in trading Dirty Sanchez. If EE and J bats sign elsewhere then so be it. I’m not comfortable with Smoak playing 1st, but hopefully Tellez makes an impression in the spring to make the opening day roster. As for the outfield, if Bautista doesn’t re-sign ( which he won’t ) , the Jays have the players internally to fill the void. If they dont fell comfortable they can fill that void through trade, but definitely NOT at the expense of Sanchez.
The Jays need to replace a lot of pop with the loss of EE and Joey Batts., not sure if they can do it .
You really think an outfield of Pillar/Upton Jr./Carrera/Pompey is sufficient? At least one quality OF has to be added to that mix.
I totally agree that a quality OF has to be added, as Upton has shown too much inconsistency and Pompey isn’t ready. For as hot as Carrera’s bat can get ( at times ) I would be ok with him in the everyday lineup. Just hope they don’t acquire Bruce. I was simply stating that Sanchez should not be dealt.