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The Blue Jays still aren’t offering enough to Edwin Encarnacion
Wednesday’s Say Hey, Baseball includes the Jays’ weak attempt at keeping their star, Byron Buxton’s struggles and where Blake Swihart should play.
Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images
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We knew the Blue Jays and Edwin Encarnacion were not seeing eye to eye on a contract extension, if for no other reason than Encarnacion is not yet extended. His hope was to get talks out of the way before the regular season began, and, failing that, become a free agent at the end of the year, giving the Jays the same chance as the other 29 teams to reel him in. We have a little more insight into just how far apart the sides are now, though, as Jon Heyman reported that the Jays offered Encarnacion a two-year deal with vesting options -- it's an offer that Encarnacion's camp didn't bother countering.
Encarnacion, 33, is in a position to sign a four- or five-year deal as a free agent. It’s unclear what he’ll ultimately sign for, but it wouldn’t be surprising if he was shooting for, at minimum, something in the $100 million range on a four-year deal. Two years guaranteed with vesting options sounds like the kind of offer a team makes when they aren’t serious but don’t want to leave the table without suggesting any solution at all. If this is how the Jays are going to handle Encarnacion, it’s not going to matter if they reopen negotiations at the All-Star break.
These negotiations have been very public, and it’s likely because the Jays don’t want to be viewed as the bad guys here if they let Encarnacion -- and also Jose Bautista -- walk at the end of the year. “We tried!” is a rallying cry for teams in a league where, very often, fans are going to side with the laundry over the actual players, in a league where billionaires aren’t seen as the greedy ones when they fail to offer millionaires enough to play. Whether the Jays come to their senses remains to be seen, but for now, enjoy this frightening Toronto lineup, as it might be the last summer we get to see it.
- Here is Bartolo Colon in a foot race to first base.
- Andrew McCutchen must enjoy playing in Colorado, as he hit three homers in the hitter-friendly park on Tuesday.
- Byron Buxton struggled so much in 2016 that he's already been sent to the minors, but his issues are not unique among up-and-coming stars.
- If the Red Sox need Blake Swihart to be an outfielder, then he's going to be an outfielder. Is it the best place for him to play in a vacuum? No, but the Sox don't play in a vacuum.
- Chase Utley is looking a lot like Chase Utley over on the Dodgers, prompting the question of whether the Phillies should have kept him.
- Johnny Cueto pitched a shutout to earn career win No. 100. It's early, but it looks like the Giants signed the good version of Cueto to a long-term deal.
- Bryan Price let Brandon Finnegan face Yoenis Cespedes in the seventh inning on Tuesday, and it didn't work out. Here's why Price made his decision to leave the young starter in, though.
- The Yankees are suffering a rash of injuries in their young arms, and it's the kind of thing that could upset their youth movement.
- The Astros' backup catcher pitched on Tuesday, giving us our first position player on the mound in 2016. He came ready to play, too, as he was out there throwing knuckleballs.
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