Heyman: The Blue Jays Were Talking One-Year Deals with Encarnacion
Given the benefit of hindsight, things could’ve worked out much differently for Edwin Encarnacion and the Toronto Blue Jays.
Despite Encarnacion’s clear and overwhelming desire to stay in Toronto and on offer on the table from the Blue Jays, Edwin ended up in Cleveland with the Indians. Only now are we learning some of the details from the Blue Jays’ negotiations with Edwin Encarnacion’s camp.
Last week, it was reported the Blue Jays tabled a deal to EE which could have escalated to $100 million. The latest from Jon Heyman at FanRag Sports paints a very different picture.
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Heyman is reporting that things circled back to a one-year deal from the Blue Jays to Edwin Encarnacion.
Once the Jays returned to talk contract with Encarnacion after removing their original $80 million, four-year bid, they were talking about one-year deals with him — though of course, by then they’d already given a three-year, $33 million deal to Kendrys Morales, which changed their equation.
I’m really not sure how much credence there is to this; the gap between a four-year/$80 million deal is cavernous, and I can’t see how the Blue Jays could’ve gone from one extreme to the other.
Unless Edwin Encarnacion’s value had plummeted so far that the Blue Jays were willing to come back with a high AAV offer, one which may or may not have had an opt out included.
The fact that Heyman said “one year deals” makes it sound like there may have been several different scenarios or variations of a one-year deal for Edwin Encarnacion.
We may never know when contract talks officially broke off between the Blue Jays and Edwin Encarnacion, but Jon Heyman indicates things may have gone south after the Jays signed Steve Pearce.
While Encarnacion came into the winter preferring to return to Toronto, where he felt comfortable, he is said to have soured a bit on that situation because of the way things went, with the Jays canceling a meeting the first day of the Winter Meetings with him following their surprise signing of Steve Pearce, which further limited their interest in Encarnacion.
There was some inkling that the Kendrys Morales signing lessened on a Blue Jays-Encarnacion reunion, but the Pearce signing subsequently all but shut the door.
And then one last little bit of bit of information which Jon Heyman also mentioned in that piece; apparently the Houston Astros presented a three-year/$66 million contract to Edwin Encarnacion at some point, presumably prior to inking Carlos Beltran to a one-year/$16 million deal.
Whether it was from the Toronto Blue Jays or another team, one thing’s for sure about Edwin Encarnacion this winter; he left a lot of money on the table from somebody.
They never wanted to re-sign Edwin. The 4 year offer was a deal they KNEW he wouldn`t and couldn`t accept, because he was waiting to see the true market. Their intent was to feign to sign Encarnacion, while making their true moves of Morales and Pearce at much lower cost & years. The recent $100M story from Rosie DiManno is the mos offensive version of fake news I`ve seen in months. Clear smokescreen. And it was published the same day someone said Edwin`s agent went to Toronto and said he`s accept LESS than the $65M Cleveland offered.
The bottom line is Shapiro didn`t want Edwin back. That`s reality.
Totally agree with the ‘fake news’ item – especially putting that out there the day after the immense but inevitable backlash from EE’s signing. After 2 months of reports out there about the 4/$80M offer, NO ONE even mentions a 5th yr option… it’s funny how they threw that reporters the day after the angry mob reaction.
I lost a lot of respect for the Jays organization and reporters that day for not seeing that obvious spin attempt.
When players know they are becoming free agents, their agents start talking to teams well before free agent starts …. the offer from the bluejays was more than adequate, but EE thought waiting it out would give him more $$$ …. give me a break … he didn’t WALK THE TALK ….. If Edwin really wanted to stay with the JAYS he would have signed the offer ….. sometimes these players are so full of shit
Yeah, only that`s total cr*p. The best recent example is Prince Fielder. Fielder had to go MONTHS into FA before he received an offer from Detroit that he wanted. The free agent market has to DEVELOP, for players in non key defensive positions ( 1st base / DH). Not all teams show an immediate interest, so an agent will wait to see if a team get`s desperate, dependent on other players situations. This is KNOWN. The Jays knew that, which is why they gave him a DEADLINE. If they really wanted him, they`d have kept negotiations open and flexible until an agreement was found. Instead they gave him an ultimatum. Some people are so freaking delusional.