Back in April, during the early days of spring training, two thirty-something year old sluggers arrived at camp poised to begin their final season before free agency. Both had already established themselves amongst the premier sluggers in the league. Both had just played October baseball for the first time in their careers while under contracts that they had far surpassed, and both had their sights set on playing themselves into a massive multi-year contract – likely the last of their careers.
Their approach, and the results thus far, could not be more different.
Bautista arrived at spring training a man on a mission. He informed media almost immediately that he had gone to the Blue Jays front office and had unequivocally stated his contract demands and that he wasn’t willing to negotiate. Bautista believed he’d already proven himself and that if the team didn’t think he was worth what he’d stated, he’d take his services elsewhere. Encarnacion, always more soft-spoken than his teammate, did not speak directly about his contract status. Though it was leaked that the Jays had offered two years plus a vesting option, Edwin stayed quiet. Instead, his agent stated that if a deal couldn’t get done during spring training, Edwin would not negotiate throughout the season because it would cause too much of a distraction.
One player shied away from the attention while the other planted himself firmly in the centre of it.
It would be fair to say that at the beginning of the season, with game five bat flips fresh in their minds, many Jays fans were demanding that Bautista be signed at his asking price. But as spring has given way to summer, the conversation has quickly turned. It is obvious to fans that Bautista has not had his best offensive season thus far, but as Jeff Simmons of Sportsnet points out, he’s on pace for his least productive offensive season since becoming a full time Blue Jay. Currently on the disabled list for the second time this season, Bautista is hitting .222/.349/.444 with 15 home runs (a far cry from the 40 he put up last year) and 48 RBI in 355 plate appearances. Various MLB pundits have weighed in on the matter. Jon Heyman believes Bautista was never going to get $150 million (Bautista’s reported asking price over five years), but that he’ll likely be offered a three-year deal in the neighbourhood of $70 million. Ken Rosenthal, speaking to Sportsnet’s Jeff Blair, believes that the number of teams willing to offer a big contract to Bautista has diminished despite the poor free-agent class at the end of this season.
It isn’t just his offensive production that’s in decline; there is no doubt that Bautista’s defensive capabilities are also on the decline, making it likely that his future is as a designated hitter, thus narrowing the list of prospective suitors further. Add to that the injuries, and some are even suggesting that Bautista might accept a qualifying offer – to be worth in just under $17 million this season – from the Blue Jays rather than risk testing the free agent market, particularly with a draft pick compensation hanging over his head should he turn it down.
Encarnacion, meanwhile, is trending in the opposite direction. Considered at one point in his career to be a risk, he signed with the Jays for $27 million over three years in 2012. He, too, has far out-performed his contract. As pointed out by Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report, Encarnacion is the only player in the majors to hit 30+ home runs in each of the last five years (he currently has 32), and is on track this season to be just one of two players to have posted an OPS over .900 in each of the last five seasons (the other being Mike Trout). His contact, however, is merely average, and his strikeout rate (20.7%) is his highest at the major-league level since 2005.
He, too, is likely destined to be a full-time DH, but he has three things going for him over Bautista when it comes to scoring that big free-agent contract: he has been injury-free this season, he’s younger, and he has had a solid offensive season thus far. It would be fair to say that, now, many Jays fans are demanding that the Jays’ front office offer Edwin whatever it would take to make him stay in Toronto.
I can’t help but feel sympathy for Jose in all this. In hindsight, perhaps he should have taken a different approach to contract talks, at least publicly. He could have signed with the Jays in the offseason, but instead chose to roll the dice on having another productive season, doubling down on past production and determining his worth heading into free agency. It’s a gamble that I think any one of us would have made. However, the narrative surrounding him has become at best a talking point and, at its worst, something far more unseemly, as though some are delighting in his decline.
This is a man who gave this city the best offensive years of his career. This is a man who stepped up into the leadoff spot earlier this season in an attempt to spark an anemic offense, even though doing so would diminish some of his own offensive statistics. This is man who has suffered two very freak injuries that have helped to derail what must be such an incredibly disappointing season thus far. He may still come back and put up decent numbers, and his track record will certainly help his case in free agency. But, let’s dispense with the speculation, shall we? There will be plenty of time to discuss how much this season has cost him in free agency once it’s over. In the meantime, there’s a pennant to chase
Quick Hits:
- On Wednesday, J.A. Happ became the first pitcher in to reach 16 wins this season, giving up just four hits through six shutout innings against the Rays. While pitcher wins are a poor indicator individual performance, it does ensure that Happ currently is garnering early Cy Young attention. Over 23 starts, he’s had more scoreless outings than games in which he’s allowed more than three runs – production that most would never have guessed could come from Happ.
- Implementing a six-man rotation will not be enough to keep Aaron Sanchez in the starting rotation for the remainder of the season. Manager John Gibbons confirmed that at least a couple of Sanchez’s starts will be skipped between now and the end of the season, but would not confirm which starts. Doing so would not only preserve Sanchez’s innings, but would also avoid the other starters having to manage too much extra rest given the off-days later this month. Marco Estrada has already stated that he needs to manage his additional rest better. There is still the possibility that the Jays go back to a five-man rotation depending on the rotation fares this month.
- Ezequiel Carrera, who has been on the disabled list since August 1st with an Achilles injury, began a rehab stint in Buffalo on Friday and is eligible to return to the Jays on Tuesday to take on the New York Yankees. His return couldn’t come a moment too soon, as the Jays outfield has been decimated by injuries and none of the replacements – nor Michael Saunders at this point – has been able to step up offensively.
Lead Photo: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports