The Oakland Athletics are the latest team to be taking an interest in former Toronto Blue Jays slugger Edwin Encarnacion, according to a report.
John Heyman of FanRag sports writes that the A’s are ‘at least considering’ Encarnacion at this point.
He notes that several teams have been ‘bargain hunting’ and checking in with his camp to see if Encarnacion’s services could be had at a discount. It is unclear how serious Oakland’s interest is, but Heyman writes that while a move like this from the Athletics would be out of character, they did offer Adrian Beltre $65 million in 2011 before he signed with the Texas Rangers.
The Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers and Blue Jays are also expected to be in the mix for the three-time all-star.
Encarnacion is coming off one of the best seasons of his career, where he slashed .263/.357/.529 with hit 42 home runs and a league-leading 127 RBIs as a 33-year-old.