Source: Edwin Encarnacion sets spring training deadline for new deal to be done

Red Sox writer, Rob Bradford, has written a small piece on Edwin Encarnacion.  According to his source, Edwin and his agent have set a spring training deadline for negotiating a new deal with the Blue Jays.  The article is written from a Boston perspective and it seems that the Red Sox are salivating at the thought of bringing Edwin in to replace Ortiz (who retires after 2016) and start mashing baseballs off the green monster.  Let's look at this from a Blue Jays perspective....

This is Edwin's last year in his contract and he will be paid a team friendly $10M for 2016.  Of course, the Blue Jays do not have to negotiate anything under Edwin's timeline, but if they don't he is saying he will become a free agent at the end of 2016.  In other words, if they don't extend him by the spring, they shouldn't bother trying to extend him during the season.  So this is the Jays opportunity to negotiate with him prior to free agency.  Understandably, if a deal is made prior to spring, then part of the deal they negotiate could include a pay increase for Edwin 2016.

I fully expect the Jays to be a competitive team in 2016, but you would have to think that if they stumbled and were realistically out of it by the July 31, 2016 trade deadline, they would have 2 big bargaining chips in Edwin and Bautista to deal to a contending team for some nice prospects.  Making a deal with Edwin prior to that, takes away that option.

There have been some light rumors of the Jays having interest in Chris Davis.  At first glance, it certainly doesn't seem like spending money on Davis makes sense when the biggest need is pitching.  There certainly would be those criticizing spending big money on a bat, which the Jays have plenty of, while they didn't spend on any of the big name free agent pitchers.  But when you consider this story with Edwin, it does make sense that the Jays would consider Davis as an alternative.  This is why I was tweeting yesterday that signing Davis would mean trading EE.  They already have EE, Smoak, and Colabello at first base.  Smoak wouldn't have any trade value.  They'd probably be lucky to find another team to just take his $3.9M contract without any players going the other way.  Colabello would have some trade value but nothing close to EE who is a proven elite power hitter.

I actually think there is a slim chance that the Jays sign Davis so don't get caught up in such a rumor.  But it is an avenue worth exploring given the choice they need to make on Edwin.

Update:
Within minutes of posting this, Howard Berger (@Berger_BYTES) tweets:  "#BlueJays and free agent slugger Chris Davis appear to be in a serious contract dance...."

So.....I don't know a lot about Berger, but he was on the FAN590 I think at some point.  It's a bit better of a source than Incarcerated Bob, but ya know how these rumors usually go.

@bluejaystwit