Indians sign Encarnacion

[crmr]

I think it's easy to look at steamer and say "the Jays should do this and that" but if Shatkins and co. are seeing a big drop off coming for Edwin, why commit that money to him?

 

I'm gonna give them a little leeway here. I have been an Edwin fan since before it was cool, and I'm sad to see him go. Being said, I wouldn't want to be locked in to a sub 2 WAR player for 4 years. Shatkins have made a perplexing decision already with the Smoak deal but they've been excellent outside of that. They've invested in their high performance department. I'm confident that they have enough information to make a move that is best for the team.

 

Given their original contract offer, it doesn't really seem like they expecting a big decline. They just misplayed the market, there's really no denying that.

 

Now whether the team is better or not as a result is a whole other question

[RealAccountant]

Rogers henchman on the radio once again perpetrating lies....Lol laughable

[Abomination]

Now that is a guy you can be happy to have your kids look up to

 

You need to feed your kids more or something.

[Krylian]

The Indians gave us a Cleveland Steamer.

[Drumcliff]

f*** it. I'm setting aside analytics and the whole who-is-to-blame thing, and just going with sentiment here -- baseball, after all, has always been a game with a fair share of sentiment.

 

For me, I'm truly going to miss Edwin Encarnacion. I enjoyed watching him develop as a hitter. I liked seeing him sitting with his Latino cohorts in the dugout laughing and enjoying the game. I got a kick out of fans with their stuffed parrots calling on Edwin to walk his. I fondly recall his hat-trick.

 

I'm glad Edwin's Blue Jays had success in the last two years, and while Toronto may yet be a playoff contender in 2017, they'll be a less interesting team for me to follow without Eddie.

[intentional wok]

I think it's easy to look at steamer and say "the Jays should do this and that" but if Shatkins and co. are seeing a big drop off coming for Edwin, why commit that money to him?

 

I'm gonna give them a little leeway here. I have been an Edwin fan since before it was cool, and I'm sad to see him go. Being said, I wouldn't want to be locked in to a sub 2 WAR player for 4 years. Shatkins have made a perplexing decision already with the Smoak deal but they've been excellent outside of that. They've invested in their high performance department. I'm confident that they have enough information to make a move that is best for the team.

 

They haven't crapped on my good books yet. They also certainly have an opportunity to reallocate the cash to make the team better in other ways, so I don't think this represents a fail grade for the FO.

 

But I don't think it can be argued that not signing EE was a risk evasion move. They already threw the money at him. BTS pointed out that there's no concrete evidence that the original Blue Jay offer was 4/80, so maybe he's right and we're all misled about the FO's interest. But let's grant for a moment that they did offer 80mil. That means they sure did see EE as a good investment, and if that's the case then they've let him walk for a lesser deal because... a superfluous roster piece (Smoak) makes a logjam, and now they have to upgrade elsewhere when they had a solid one staring them right in the face and who left for less money than they offered to keep him.

 

Again, I'm also assuming nothing personal went down that begrudged EE against his old bosses. Assuming it was all strictly business, I think they let a huge piece get away for flimsy reasons. Of course it's all in a vacuum and we still don't know their plans moving forward. They're clearly willing to spend the cash, so I'm still confident they'll make some moves to put those wins back on the board.

[Terminator]

But I don't think it can be argued that not signing EE was a risk evasion move. They already threw the money at him. BTS pointed out that there's no concrete evidence that the original Blue Jay offer was 4/80, so maybe he's right and we're all misled about the FO's interest. But let's grant for a moment that they did offer 80mil. That means they sure did see EE as a good investment, and if that's the case then they've let him walk for a lesser a deal because... some superfluous roster pieces make a logjam, and now they have to upgrade elsewhere when they had a solid upgrade staring them right in the face.

 

Very well said. You have single-handedly redeemed yourself after today's Bautista to 3B post.

[intentional wok]

Very well said. You have single-handedly redeemed yourself after today's Bautista to 3B post.

 

I never planned to die on that hill anyway. It was just a passing thought about how Bautista could try to market himself as a versatile IF slugger considering no one has confidence in his ability to be a conventional slugging OF anymore.

[admin]

I think they offered EE 4/80 knowing he likely wouldn't accept it at the time. It makes them look good to the fans that they tried and made a competitive offer.

 

"Win the crowd win your freedom."

 

That's actually a great theory.

[jaysblue]

Tim & Sid should be interesting to watch tonight.

[admin]

Does he get cheered or booed in his return?

[brianf]

Does he get cheered or booed in his return?

 

I'll be cheering. Over his years here, he outplayed his contract and helped to get us to the postseason twice. As a fan, what more can you ask for.

[Terminator]

Does he get cheered or booed in his return?

 

Seems like the team is taking the heat for this one. I think he'll get cheered.

[Abomination]

Does he get cheered or booed in his return?

 

Let's see what comes out over the next while about this. His agent is doing a lot of gum flapping, but I have VERY serious doubts about Oakland offering EE Cespedes type money. I'm not sure I believe anything that's being said right now, unless teams start to confirm it. How he's received will likely be determined on what the actual truth is, as to who is "at fault", so to speak.

[Gary]

Shi Davidi reporting on Tim & Sid that the Jays 4/80 offer included a 5th year option to bring the total to 5/100. The 4/80 was fully guaranteed.

[Terminator]

Shi Davidi reporting on Tim & Sid that the Jays 4/80 offer included a 5th year option to bring the total to 5/100. The 4/80 was fully guaranteed.

 

This makes no sense. If they were willing to go up to 100 mil why wouldn't they just sign him at a big discount and figure out the positions afterward. Pearce to LF, EE to 1B and Smoak to Buffalo. Surely less than ideal defense at 1B and in LF wouldn't prevent them from signing a player at 35% discount?

[BTS]

Shi Davidi reporting on Tim & Sid that the Jays 4/80 offer included a 5th year option to bring the total to 5/100. The 4/80 was fully guaranteed.

 

Wow that's a huge offer. Sounds like Edwin gambled and lost.

[RealAccountant]

Shi Davidi reporting on Tim & Sid that the Jays 4/80 offer included a 5th year option to bring the total to 5/100. The 4/80 was fully guaranteed.

 

If that's true f*** Edwin

 

Though David is a henchmen

[Governator]

Shi Davidi reporting on Tim & Sid that the Jays 4/80 offer included a 5th year option to bring the total to 5/100. The 4/80 was fully guaranteed.

 

Wow, though really isn't much different than 4/80 unless it had a large buyout on the option year.

[burlingtonbandit]

I don't think its a coincidence Shi reports this after his Agent says Toronto could have signed him for less $.

 

Seems the Jays FO and Edwin/his Agent are in a f***ing PR battle to try to make the other party look worse. Its done lets just move forward with our lives.

[burlingtonbandit]

This makes no sense. If they were willing to go up to 100 mil why wouldn't they just sign him at a big discount and figure out the positions afterward. Pearce to LF, EE to 1B and Smoak to Buffalo. Surely less than ideal defense at 1B and in LF wouldn't prevent them from signing a player at 35% discount?

 

The part I find funny is that if they had a 4/80 evaluation on him and you could get him for 3/60 why does Smoak's $8 Million total value get in the way of that. You are saving more than Smoak's contract on resigning the player that you wanted in the first place lol.

[Boxcar]

The part I find funny is that if they had a 4/80 evaluation on him and you could get him for 3/60 why does Smoak's $8 Million total value get in the way of that. You are saving more than Smoak's contract on resigning the player that you wanted in the first place lol.

 

It is odd. Someone isn't telling the entire truth.

[Terminator]

It is odd. Someone isn't telling the entire truth.

 

It's possible that they all are telling the truth and Atkins didn't want EE anymore after signing Morales and Pearce because of some sort of promise he made to them or because he was worried about constructing the lineup with both EE and Morales on the team. If that's the case it's a pretty big error but that's a lot of conjecture.

 

Or maybe Atkins made the offer, knew EE would reject and quickly moved on simply because he doesn't like EE's skillset moving forward and didn't want to pay 20 AAV for a DH.

 

Regardless, this is a set back for the team IMO and I don't think this board is really grasping it right now. We lost a 4 WAR player and we are replacing him with inferior players and still have huge glaring holes. Still lots of offseason left although the FA options aren't that appealing. I'll reserve further judgment but this team needs to make a trade badly.

[burlingtonbandit]

My bet guess is they just simply were doing a PR move to look like they tried to sign him. They could get a player in Bautista who is projected to be better and in a position of need and are choosing not to because of the draft pick.

[Gary]

EE will probably become bff with Lebron now. I wonder if Lebron helped recruit EE???

[RealAccountant]

I don't think its a coincidence Shi reports this after his Agent says Toronto could have signed him for less $.

 

Seems the Jays FO and Edwin/his Agent are in a f***ing PR battle to try to make the other party look worse. Its done lets just move forward with our lives.

 

As far as henchmen go Davidi and Wilner are at the top of the charts

[burlingtonbandit]

As far as henchmen go Davidi and Wilner are at the top of the charts

 

Please stop using the word henchmen. Thanks.

[Sorrow]

I honestly don't understand why people are reacting like losing EE is the end of the world. Bad body sluggers like EE have failed many, many times when they hit their mid 30s. Take Pujols as a recent example. He could be productive for the next 3-4 years but odds are he's done being an elite bat.

[Terminator]

I honestly don't understand why people are reacting like losing EE is the end of the world. Bad body sluggers like EE have failed many, many times when they hit their mid 30s. Take Pujols as a recent example. He could be productive for the next 3-4 years but odds are he's done being an elite bat.

 

He was a really easy way to keep this team competitive next year. In the end perhaps it's best we didn't sign him but I'd like to win the WC again and right now this roster needs a lot of work.

[Gary]

I honestly don't understand why people are reacting like losing EE is the end of the world. Bad body sluggers like EE have failed many, many times when they hit their mid 30s. Take Pujols as a recent example. He could be productive for the next 3-4 years but odds are he's done being an elite bat.

Good point. EE could turn into Ryan Howard/Prince Fielder next season.