NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – With each passing hour, the intrigue surrounding Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion grows.
Because potential suitors continue finding solutions that don’t involve the pair of longtime Toronto Blue Jays sluggers, they suddenly have a shortage of logical landing spots. As a result, the guesses about potential suitors continue at the winter meetings, becoming more creative by the minute.
Could the Blue Jays re-engage on Bautista? Could Colorado jump in on Encarnacion, knowing that he’d be a 45 home run threat in their park? Or could Cleveland engage both players as potential replacements for Mike Napoli?
All of those outcomes are imaginable, in part because the possibilities that seemed inevitable for months no longer seem realistic in the least. Agents and executives observing the sweepstakes with interest now agree that there’s no obvious fit for either player.
Before indulging in too much speculation, let’s start with some facts. The Houston Astros and New York Yankees appear to be out of the mix for both sluggers, having agreed to deals with Carlos Beltran and Matt Holliday, respectively. The Boston Red Sox are similarly set after signing Mitch Moreland and openly dismissing the notion that they might spend big on bats.
“We really not looking for a long-term type hitter,” president Dave Dombrowski said soon after announcing the acquisition of Chris Sale.
The Blue Jays, meanwhile, met with Bautista’s representatives Tuesday, as reported by Sportsnet’s Hazel Mae. The Blue Jays have kept tabs on a wide range of free agents, Bautista included.
“There’s not a free agent here that fits our team that we haven’t had discussions with,” GM Ross Atkins said soon after Bautista’s representatives were spotted near the Blue Jays’ hotel suites. “There aren’t teams that have pieces that are potentially movable that we haven’t touched base with and had discussions. All of them to various degrees.”
Still, there’s a limit to how many of those pieces they’ll land. The Blue Jays have also been pursuing Dexter Fowler, who would require a significant financial commitment of his own. Plus, it’d be a surprise if the Blue Jays landed more than one player linked to draft-pick compensation. All told, there doesn’t appear to have been significant progress between the Blue Jays and Bautista Tuesday, when Fowler appeared to be their top target.
The draft pick linked to Bautista hurts him, but there’s a counterpoint to that line of thinking: at a time when there’s a whole lot of empty power out there — think Chris Carter, Mark Trumbo and Brandon Moss — Bautista actually reaches base. With a career on-base percentage of .368 and seven consecutive seasons above .350, he delivers real value in that department. And while Encarnacion has been squeezed out in Toronto, the Blue Jays do need outfielders, preserving the possibility of a return for Bautista.
Multiple observers have wondered about the possibility of a Yoenis Cespedes-type deal for Bautista, one where he obtains a significant guarantee in year one followed by an opt-out clause. Speaking in general terms, Atkins acknowledged that emotion of the winter meetings leads to a unique deal-making environment.
“There’s also more creativity,” Atkins said. “Because of the creativity there’s more opportunity. Because of the emotion there’s more decision making.”
On paper, the Orioles could use power to replace the departing Trumbo and Pedro Alvarez, yet their level of interest isn’t clear. The Rangers remain a fit for Encarnacion, and some onlookers point to Texas as a fit even if there’s been some suggestion that they have limited payroll at their disposal (Bautista would presumably be a non-starter in Texas given their history).
That leads to the question of whether National League teams would bid on Encarnacion despite the fact he has never played 100 games at first base in any one year. As one rival executive noted, however, Encarnacion can hold his own when he takes the field.
“There’s a lot of mediocre first basemen,” the person said. “He wasn’t a clunker over there.”
With interest from teams in both leagues, Encarnacion’s camp appears to be waiting for a motivated team to sweeten an offer. That approach can work, as Prince Fielder learned when a Victor Martinez injury led to a $214 million contract with the Detroit Tigers five years ago. Encarnacion’s not getting that kind of money, but the addition of a truly motivated bidder could change his market for the better, at least in theory.
At this point the obvious fits for Bautista and Encarnacion have been exhausted, prompting many in the industry to expect the unexpected.
