The impending free agency of longtime Blue Jays Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista is a conversation that will only burn stronger as we approach the summer months. Both have given the Blue Jays their peak seasons at a relative discount, especially in the current free agent landscape, and given Mark Shapiro’s past tendencies it’s likely that one walks, but conceivable that both do.
Power gets paid. We discussed earlier in the offseason how the Chris Davis contract should help to frame Encarnacion’s next deal in terms of average annual value, and Bautista shouldn’t trail far behind despite his age.