TORONTO – Chances are the Toronto Blue Jays will look much different when they next take the field. Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion are hitting free agency, so it’s entirely possible that the Blue Jays lose two middle-of-the-order bats.
That alone would change the team dramatically, but the Blue Jays’ free agent class extends beyond Bautista and Encarnacion. R.A. Dickey won’t be back; Dioner Navarro’s contract is up again; Jason Grilli has a club option for next year, but no guarantees.
Then there’s a pair of players hitting free agency for the first time in their careers—they’ve both got long-standing ties to the Blue Jays and hope to return to Toronto if at all possible. But Michael Saunders and Brett Cecil are going to be in demand once the World Series ends and 29 other teams can bid for their services.
For now, neither player is thinking that far ahead. In the aftermath of the Blue Jays’ ALCS loss to Cleveland Wednesday, they were still coming to terms with a disappointing finish to a long season.
“Right now it’s a sour mood in here and it stings,” Saunders said beside his locker in the Blue Jays’ clubhouse.
“It sucks getting to this point and not being able to get to that World Series and winning it, especially this year knowing it could be my last here,” Cecil said. “I’d love to get the chance to get back and be with the same group of guys and do it all over again.”
Neither Saunders nor Cecil played in last year’s ALCS, when injuries prevented them from taking the field. This time Cecil pitched—and pitched well, with 3.1 scoreless innings—but the Blue Jays again fell short.
“It hurts just as much,” Cecil said. “I’m 80 or 85 percent sure that I would have been able to pitch in the World Series last year if we’d made it that far. Being able to pitch in this series and still not getting there it stings just as much.”
Saunders, who grew up cheering for the Blue Jays in Victoria, B.C., was thrilled to be traded to the team before the 2015 season, but injuries sidelined him for most of the year. This time, he was able to contribute.
“It was a childhood dream come true for me… to put on a Jays uniform,” said Saunders, who turns 30 next month. “It’s lived up to every expectation I had. I loved my time in Toronto and I hope to be back.”
“This team’s going to be good for a lot of years,” he added. “I’d certainly love to be a part of it.”
Saunders hit 24 home runs, posted an .815 OPS and made his first all-star team in 2016. Though his production dropped off in the second half of the season (.638 OPS, eight home runs), he delivered in the playoffs, hitting .381 with a .981 OPS in eight games. That kind of production gets players paid.
It also doesn’t hurt that Saunders is a left-handed hitter in a free-agent class that skews heavily to the right (Encarnacion, Bautista, Yoenis Cespedes, Mark Trumbo, Mike Napoli and Justin Turner all hit right-handed).
“Baseball is still a business,” manager John Gibbons said. “It’s a game we play, but it’s still a big business.”
Considering that Cecil lost as many games in April as the Chicago Cubs and had a 5.23 ERA when he hit the disabled list with a torn lat in May, he’s remarkably well positioned entering free agency.
The 30-year-old posted a 1.74 ERA over his final 30 regular-season apperances, striking out 30 hitters in 20.2 innings during that span. He added late-season success to that with six scoreless playoff appearances, including some high-leverage outs in the ALCS.
Industry observers expect Cecil to be able to find a three-year deal in free agency, where left-handed relief is always in demand. Once the World Series ends, the Blue Jays will be among the many teams that could use left-handed bullpen help.
Cecil has seen and experienced plenty of ups and downs since the Blue Jays took him 38th overall back in 2007. Now on the brink of free agency for the first time, he acknowledges that his 10th season in the Blue Jays organization may have been his last.
“I’ve been here through the worst of times and the best of times and if I leave, I’m happy to be leaving on top,” Cecil said. “But I’d love the chance to get back here, make the ground with all these guys and do it all over again and get to where we want to be.”
