Ross Atkins announced Monday that barring any unforeseen circumstances the Toronto Blue Jays will qualify pending free agents Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion.
The Blue Jays general manager followed that up Tuesday by saying he will attempt to prevent emotions from being involved in the negotiation process despite the fact that Bautista and Encarnacion are fan favourites.
“In my view and our view is we try to stay away from the emotional pitfalls and try to focus on making good, sound business decisions that will help us sustain championship-winning teams because making emotional decisions is typically not going to end well,” Atkins told Jeff Blair and Stephen Brunt on Sportsnet 590 The Fan.
Bautista and Encarnacion, along with fellow pending free agent Brett Cecil, are the longest serving Blue Jays and the two sluggers are seeking big paydays.
The Blue Jays had the oldest team in baseball in 2016 and were primarily a right-handed batting team. Ideally the Blue Jays would like to get a bit younger and add a couple left-handed bats.
Bautista and Encarnacion happen to be right-handed bats and both are well into their 30s. Atkins, however, said that wouldn’t factor into the team’s decision. How much money each player asks for clearly will though.
“Ultimately it’s not about right-handed, left-handed, young, old, fast, slow, it’s about what type of production we’re going to get and what is the acquisition cost,” Atkins explained.
Bautista, 36, struggled at times in 2016 hitting .234/.366/.452/.817 and adding 22 home runs, which was his lowest total in seven years. Encarnacion, 33, equaled a career high with 42 home runs and tied David Ortiz for the American League lead in RBI with 127.
