We updated each major league team’s largest contract of all-time last week. Nothing has changed of late for the Indian, whose biggest guarantee remains the three-year, $60 MM agreement they granted first baseman/ designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion in advance of the 2017 season. That holds the Pirate( six years, $60 MM for Jason Kendall) for the least expensive sum on the list, which further indicates that the Indian probably won’t be able to keep hotshot shortstop Francisco Lindor from thumping the free-agent market after the 2021 season.
When Encarnacion contacted free authority three years ago, few people( or maybe no one at all) thought he used to select Cleveland. At the outset of that offseason, MLBTR ranked Encarnacion as the sport’s second-best free agent and foresaw he’d region a four-year, $92 MM contract. It is just like a acceptable call at the time in light of the superb creation Encarnacion put up as a Blue Jay over the previous seasons. In a 3,133 -plate appearance span from 2012 -1 6, Encarnacion mustered the majors’ second-most home runs( 193) and parlayed a. 272/.367 /. 544 indication into the league’s fifth-highest wRC+( 146 ), not to mention 20.7 fWAR.
Despite the wonderful quantities Encarnacion gathered as a Blue Jay, his grocery didn’t come together as planned after his tenure with the team concluded. Encarnacion had his views set on a guarantee approaching $100 MM, evidenced by reports that he repudiated a Toronto offer in the range of $80 MM over four years. That turned out to be a blessing for the Blue Jays, who wouldn’t have battled from 2017 -1 9 even with Encarnacion on their roster. And by publish Encarnacion a qualifying render and allowing him to depart, the team received a first-round pick( No. 28) in 2017 as compensation. With that pick, the Jays chose right-hander Nate Pearson , now one of the prime ministers potentials in baseball.
While hitting Encarnacion with a QO did benefit Toronto, it didn’t do his busines any advantages when he became a free agent. Neither Encarnacion’s age( he was on the verge of turning 34) nor defensive restrictions that mostly limited interest in him to American League squads cured his cause, either. The Astros, Yankees, Rangers and Red Sox were said to have sought him to at least some extent, while even the low-budget Athletics tried to swoop in and seizure Encarnacion when it became clear he was going to sign for less than expected.
The fact that Cleveland is closer than Oakland to Encarnacion’s native Dominican Republic reportedly played a role in his decision. And the Indians did give him a pact that could have maxed out at $80 MM, depending on whether they’d exercising a $20 MM club option for 2020. That alternative was eventually declined this past winter, but not by the Indians, with whom Encarnacion lasted exactly two seasons and whose ratifying cost the sorority a first-rounder.
Back when Cleveland inked Encarnacion, it was coming off a seven-game World Series loss to the Cubs. The happening that the Indian travelled as far as they did that year was a boon to their bottom line and apparently had some impact on their decision to go after Encarnacion. He came in to supplant Mike Napoli, whom the Indians let walk after their pennant-winning campaign, and plied an instant upgrade.
Encarnacion batted. 258/.377 /. 504( 130 wRC +) with 38 HRs in 669 PA and 157 recreations in his first year as an Indian. That yield expedited the Indians in their second straight AL Central title-winning season, but another deep playoff rolled wasn’t in the cards as they fell in the first round to the Yankees. While the organization went on to a third consecutive division championship in 2018( and yet another first-round loss, this time to the Astros ), it did so without fellow first baseman/ DH Carlos Santana, whom it lost to the Phillies in free agency during the previous offseason.
The addition of Encarnacion the year prior facilitated protect the Indians from Santana’s departure, but the former simply succeeded pedestrian production by his standards that season. Encarnacion did rack up another 32 dingers, though his. 246/.336 /. 474 showing in 579 PA led to his worst wRC+( 115) since before he morphed into a power several years earlier. That proved to be the end of the line on his Indians tenure.
In December 2018, the Indians traded Encarnacion to the Mariners in a three-team deal that also involved the Rays. The move returned Santana to Cleveland, as Philly objective its uniting with him after simply one season when it transmit him to Seattle earlier that month, but there was more to the blockbuster. The Indians too had to send third baseman Yandy Diaz and right-hander Cole Sulser to Tampa Bay, which dealt first baseman/ outfielder Jake Bauers to Cleveland. Diaz has been a real loss for the Indians thus far- he got his first gave major league opportunity last year and showed well, though injured restraint him to 79 competitions. Sulser did nice is collaborating with the Rays’ Triple-A team last season, but he was also 29 at the time; they’ve since lost him on waivers to the Orioles. And though Bauers was once a well-regarded prospect, the 24 -year-old didn’t knock much in either the majors or adolescents in 2019.
The best musician in the Encarnacion/ Santana cope a year ago was the latter, who went to his first All-Star Game and recorded a career-high 4.4 fWAR. The 34 -year-old switch-hitter has one more guaranteed season left at only under $21 MM. The Indians will have a chance to keep Santana around in 2021 for $17.5 MM, but they could instead buy him out for merely $500 K. So, because we may not even visualize a 2020 season, it’s possible Santana won’t play for the Indians again.
As for Encarnacion, who had a fine 2019 split between the Mariners and Yankees, he’s now a member of one of the Indian’ separation competitors. Encarnacion revisited the open market this past winter, though he didn’t cash in to virtually the same degree, inking a one-year, $12 MM guarantee with the White Sox. That pact also includes a $12 MM club option for 2021, so if there is no season, Encarnacion could still stick around in Chicago beyond this year. Located on the period and dollar illustration, Encarnacion has a better chance to live up to that conformity than the one the Indians returned him. For them, signing Encarnacion to a franchise-record contract didn’t go as hoped.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
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