Bautista, Blue Jays still talking as Encarnacion evaluates options

As the Winter Meetings came to a close over the weekend, Jose Bautista remains in contact with the Toronto Blue Jays.

The free-agent slugger’s camp reportedly met with the Blue Jays brass on the final day of the meetings, Jon Morosi reports.

Bautista returned to the negotiation table with Toronto last week after rejecting the club’s $17.2-million qualifying offer following the World Series. In an effort to test the free-agent market, Bautista and fellow free agent Edwin Encarnacion had rejected the same qualifying offer and both have been met with lukewarm interest as teams struggle to identify their price. Bautista and Encarnacion, both on the wrong side of 30, were reportedly after five-year contracts in the neighbourhood of $125-million.

With the St. Louis Cardinals signing Dexter Fowler to a five-year, $82.5-million deal, the bar for free-agent outfielders appears to be set. The Blue Jays, who still have holes to fill in the outfield, had reportedly been targeting Fowler as a possible option.

Bautista, meanwhile, was apparently shunned by heated rivals Texas and Baltimore, and it’s unclear whether Boston would have any interest at this point. Bautista had reportedly shown interest in signing a two-year deal with the Red Sox before the club opted to sign 1B/DH Mitch Moreland instead, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reports.

While the Blue Jays still appear to be in play for Bautista – potentially on a two-year deal – Encarnacion is very likely to take his talents elsewhere. The slugger was said to be disappointed the Blue Jays moved on so quickly from him after signing DH Kendry Morales and utility man Steve Pearce. General Manager Ross Atkins has already suggested that a reunion with Encarnacion isn’t likely in the cards.

“Never will we say never” Atkins told reporters, according to Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith, before adding it would have to be “creative on both sides.”