“I don’t like to speak in absolutes but I think that’s probably the most likely scenario.”
That’s what Toronto Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro told Jeff Blair and Stephen Brunt on Sportsnet 590 The Fan Friday when asked whether or not the team’s pending free agents would hit the open market once the season ended.
LISTEN: Mark Shapiro talks offensive woes, revenue and free agency
Shapiro wouldn’t go into specifics but it’s clear he was alluding specifically to Blue Jays sluggers Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion, both of whom will garner big money on their next deals.
Michael Saunders, Brett Cecil and R.A. Dickey are among the team’s pending free agents but it’s the futures of Bautista and Encarnacion that interest Blue Jays fans most.
Shapiro explained that any conversations he has had this season with representatives of his pending free agents were “casual but nothing that’s been very intense or substantive in nature.”
“Everyone here understands there is a time for having those conversations,” he added. “Some players desire to have those during the season, but most want things to transpire and recognize there’s a window…If they still want to be here and we still want them here then the timing [of negotiations] doesn’t matter whether you have it during the season or at the end of the season.”
If Bautista and Encarnacion, or any Blue Jays free agent for that matter, do speak with other teams on the open market it doesn’t mean they won’t ultimately end up re-signing in Toronto.
“These guys have the ability to go out and look through more clearly what the alternatives are out there in the free agent market,” Shapiro added. “Again, I still believe if they’re guys that want to be here and we still think that they can fit and be part of a championship team – not just collecting talent but a championship team – we’ll find a way to keep them here.”
Bautista is hitting .228/.350/.442/.792 with just 17 homers and 55 RBI in 93 games, a significant drop off from his numbers in recent years. Encarnacion, meanwhile, is hitting .267/.358/.543/.900 with 37 HRs and a career-high 112 RBI through 137 appearances.
