Astros offered Edwin Encarnacion a three-year deal

The Astros offered Edwin Encarnacion the second largest contract, behind the Blue Jays deal.

One of the good things when an Astros target signs with another team, you get to know how much your team offered. This is once again the case with Edwin Encarnacion after he signed a three-year deal with the Indians. There is a fourth option year, which would be $25 million.

His base contract will be $20 million for three years, totaling $60 million dollars. Should the team option fourth year be picked up, it will total $85 million. With a $5 million dollar buyout in 2020, the Indians protected themselves in case his skills set declines.

This is far less than he was looking for at the start of the offseason, as it was reported that he was after a five-year $125 deal. He even turned down a  four-year deal to remain with the Blue Jays for $80 million. The Blue Jays acted quickly after he declined the contract and signed Kendrys Morales. They were not willing to wait, as well as the Astros and Yankees.

The teams who wanted to offer him a lot of money were waiting for the new CBA. When that time came, the luxury tax threshold did not rise enough. Apparently, the highest offer that Encarnacion received was by the Astros.

A look at the rumored Astros offer.

According to Jon Heyman, the Astros offered Encarnacion a three-year deal for $66 million. That was almost exactly what my Talking Stros co-host Brandon suggested. Instead of a long-term deal, the Astros would offer more per year. I expected a little better attempt by the Astros, but maybe they were really after Carlos Beltran first and foremost.

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Heyman did not say if the Astros contract was still on the table when he signed with the Indians. Brian McTaggart has said many times that the Stros will not add any more offense. Maybe that offer went off the table when they signed Beltran. A $22 million dollar per year offer for the 34-year-old was strong, but maybe the option year was the difference.

If the Astros deal was still on the table, Encarnacion chose less guaranteed money to play with the Indians. They played in the 2016 World Series, so maybe he felt like they were closer to returning. This Houston team is built to win, but so are the Red Sox and Indians at this point.

Heyman did say that no one would have taken the original Blue Jay contract offer at the time. Should he play well, he could make a little more than $80 million with his current deal. Good luck to Encarnacion with the Indians, we will meet in the playoffs. This is the last time I write about him until he has a Golden Sombrero versus the Stros.

What do you think about the three-year $66 million dollars offer?

***Salary Information from Spotrac.com***