Bautista, Encarnacion will get qualifying offers from Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays expect to make qualifying offers to potential free agents Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion, but have yet to decide whether to make the same offer to outfielder Michael Saunders.

In a season-ending news conference Monday, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said the decision to extend qualifying offers to the sluggers is "about as easy a decision as we'll make."

The price of a qualifying offer this year is $17.2 million, which guarantees the Blue Jays compensation in the form of draft picks should either player decide to sign elsewhere. The offer can be made through the fifth day after the World Series, and a player has a week after that to accept.

Bautista, Encarnacion and Saunders are among nine potential free agents on Toronto's roster. The Blue Jays lost in five games to Cleveland in the ALCS, the second year in a row they have lost at that stage of the playoffs.