Report: Encarnacion asked Blue Jays for 4-year, $100M deal
The Toronto Blue Jays offer to Edwin Encarnacion at the start of the offseason fell well short of his initial asking price.
Encarnacion received a four-year, $80-million offer from the Blue Jays in November, but turned it down, only to counter with a four-year, $100-million contract, sources told Rick Westhead of TSN.
The Blue Jays quickly pivoted and signed switch-hitting designed hitter Kendrys Morales to a three-year, $33-million deal, effectively shutting the door on a possible reunion with Encarnacion.
"With the Blue Jays, this was all about timing and that was the only thing," Encarnacion's agent Paul Kinzer said Friday. "We weren't upset with the offer or anything else. It was just timing."
Kinzer said earlier this week that he and his client were shocked with how quickly the Blue Jays moved on, and that Encarnacion was upset that he wouldn't be returning to Toronto.
Encarnacion eventually agreed to a deal with the Cleveland Indians on Thursday reportedly worth $60-million over three years.
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