Oakland continues to be the busiest team of the early offseason, as the A’s claimed 27-year-old third baseman Edwin Encarnacion off waivers from the Blue Jays.
Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos indicated last month that Encarnacion was a candidate to be non-tendered after hitting .244/.305/.482 in 367 plate appearances while missing nearly half the season with a wrist injury.
Toronto decided to clear him off the 40-man roster ahead of time and Oakland snatched him up, although Encarnacion may still end up being a non-tender candidate because the $6 million or so he’d likely command via arbitration is pretty steep for a poor defensive third baseman with a .790 career OPS.
However, general manager Billy Beane has made it clear that the A’s are looking for some right-handed power and for all hits faults Encarnacion certainly fits that bill. He isn’t much with the glove and has a .258 batting average in six seasons, but he’s also smacked 25 homers per 550 at-bats and went deep 21 times in just 332 at-bats this season.
