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Toronto Blue Jays Top Five Offseason Priorities

By Tim Haberin

Jun 16, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; The Toronto Blue Jays logo on a sleeve patch during a game Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. The Toronto Blue Jays won 13-2. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 16, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; The Toronto Blue Jays logo on a sleeve patch during a game Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. The Toronto Blue Jays won 13-2. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports /

Re-Sign Edwin Encarnacion

Keeping both Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista was always going to be a tall task. So the Toronto Blue Jays should not really make that their explicit goal. Instead, they need to turn the bulk of their focus toward keeping Encarnacion in a Jays uniform.

Encarnacion makes sense as the preferred target for a variety of reasons. For one thing, he’s a couple years younger than Bautista, which gives the team a bit more room to work with in terms of offering a multi-year contract. He also turned in a much better performance in 2016. While injuries limited Bautista to 116 games and a .234/.366/.452 slash line, Encarnacion kept doing what he’s been doing in Toronto for the past eight seasons.

Splitting time between DH and first base, Encarnacion slashed .263/.357/.529, matched his career high with 42 homers, and drove in an AL-high 127 runs. Since 2011, he has averaged a .272/.363/.531 slash, 35 long balls, 101 RBI and 144 games played per season. You would be hard-pressed to find many sluggers that reliable and consistent over that span.

As a result, the Jays shouldn’t be afraid to go the extra mile to keep Encarnacion in blue and white. He won’t lack for suitors (such as the division rival Red Sox), so Toronto may need to pay a bit more than they would normally be comfortable with. But that’s typically what happens when signing a power hitter on the free agent market. A three- or four-year pact would be ideal, keeping him under wraps through his age 36 or 37 season, at which point you would hope his production had not yet declined that much. If a competing offer pushes the Jays to five years, they should not let that be the determining factor in letting him go either.

Playing primarily as a DH should also help Encarnacion remain reasonably productive into his late 30s, which should put the Jays’ minds further at ease. It’s hard to see him not fully testing the market, but Toronto should put a full-court press on him during the five-day exclusive negotiation period. At the very least it could lay the groundwork toward an eventual deal. Moving quickly could help the Blue Jays secure an agreement at a number they find acceptable.

Next: Draw the Line

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