Could Toronto Blue Jays Bring Back Both Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista?
A recent report suggested that the Toronto Blue Jays will make a “serious run” at re-signing Edwin Encarnacion, but could they bring back both Encarnacion and Jose Bautista?
Following the Toronto Blue Jays‘ playoff run, which hopefully doesn’t end anytime soon, the team will face two of the biggest decisions in franchise history.
Of course, those decisions are whether or not the team should re-sign Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista, both of whom will be entering free agency this offseason. As reported by Jon Heyman on Wednesday, the Blue Jays will apparently make a “serious run” at re-signing Encarnacion, but the future of Bautista isn’t as cut and dry.
“The Jays plan to make a play long-term for star first baseman/DH Edwin Encarnacion, and will give both him and longtime right field star Jose Bautista a qualifying offer (assuming the new CBA still has a provision for qualifying offers)” writes Heyman. “The Jays offered Encarnacion a concept of two years plus two option years this spring (with the idea of maybe getting to three years), but Encarnacion’s big year is expected to spur the Jays to be willing to do something more competitive — though no one expects them to blow him away and no one will be surprised if he leaves for greener pastures.”
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Heyman goes on to say that there is a growing belief Encarnacion will get a four-year offer in free agency and that the report of him taking a “hometown discount” to remain in Toronto from earlier this spring could have changed, but is not known at this time.
When it comes to Bautista’s situation, everything is fluid at this point, but could be promising from the Blue Jays’ perspective, which I’ll explain in a second.
“As for Bautista, while there’s been speculation the team might not even extend the qualifying offer, insiders say there’s no way the Mark Shapiro-Ross Atkins regime would pass up the opportunity to win an extra draft choice, and their belief is that Bautista — who sought $150 million-plus this spring — wouldn’t take the one-year offer,” writes Heyman. “Some say Bautista makes extra money with his long-time Toronto ties, so it may not be such a terrible idea for him to take the one-year qualifying offer, which is expected to be for about $17 million, but he’d likely figure there’s a multiyear deal out there for him somewhere.”
Heyman’s report still leaves many questions to be answered, but if you’re Bautista and the Blue Jays, there seems to be an ideal resolution here. Much like what the Boston Red Sox did with David Ortiz, the Blue Jays could operate on a year-to-year basis with Bautista.
The two sides would need to sit down after the season and have a very honest conversation with one another to make this work, but it could make a lot of sense for both sides.
From Bautista’s perspective, he could: 1) remain in Toronto, which is something he has expressed interest in doing; 2) earn a competitive market salary each year, pending his performance remains up to par and ownership is willing to agree; and 3) play for a competitor and further cement his legacy in Toronto.
If you’re Bautista, where else can you be a bigger superstar than in Toronto? Probably nowhere. Also, would another contender really fork out a long-term deal to Bautista at premium dollar value? I doubt it, but you never know. Instead, it would likely be a middle-tier team trying to build a contender that would offer Bautista a contract like that. Is that really a deal worth leaving Toronto for? If money is that important, by all means, go get yours, Jose. I’ll never knock an athlete for getting paid, but when you look at the big picture, staying in Toronto makes the most sense.
Of course, management and ownership would have to agree to this Big Papi-type deal. If you’re management, though, how does a year-to-year deal not make sense? It would allow them to maintain financial flexibility while not jeopardizing their roster construction, and it would also allow them to prevent being tied down long-term to an aging player, which is something the Blue Jays’ roster has a lot of.
Again, there are a lot of questions still to be answered, like what position he would play, but a scenario where the Blue Jays and Bautista agree to an Ortiz-like year-to-year contract does make a lot of sense.
So could the Blue Jays actually bring back both sluggers? If Bautista is willing to take a year-to-year or short-term deal, I don’t see why not. We all know Encarnacion is going to cost the Blue Jays a pretty penny, that’s no secret. Bautista, however, could come at a decent rate if signed to a short-term deal.
Given the Blue Jays’ recent success, the whole “ownership doesn’t want to spend money” thing is more gone than Albert Pujols‘ epic three-run shot during the 2005 NLCS. Toronto is no longer a “small market” team and if they choose to spend like it again this offseason, they deserve every bit of backlash they get from the fan base.
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With the money available, pursuing Encarnacion is a must, but I don’t think pursuing Bautista is as much of a question mark as people seem to think it is. Instead, I think if ownership can guarantee Bautista that they will “take care of him” in a similar fashion to how Boston did with Ortiz, the likelihood of him and Encarnacion being back in uniform at 1 Blue Jays Way next season is higher than you’d think.