Three-time All-Star slugger Edwin Encarnacion agreed to sign with the Cleveland Indians on Thursday, but it apparently wasn’t a decision motivated solely by the money.
Encarnacion’s agent, Paul Kinzer, appeared on MLB Network Radio on Friday and revealed that the Oakland Athletics offered his client “[Yoenis] Cespedes-type” money, per Hazel Mae of Sportsnet. Encarnacion turned them down however with Kinzer citing the 33-year-old’s reluctance for his family in the Dominican Republic to have to travel to the West Coast.
EE agent Kinzer on @MLBNetworkRadio, OAK offered "Cespedes-type" money. Edwin turned down. Didn't want west coast travel for family in DR
— Hazel Mae (@thehazelmae) December 23, 2016
It’s unclear if Kinzer was referring to the three-year, $75 million deal with an opt-out clause after Year 1 that Cespedes signed with the New York Mets last winter or the four-year, $110 million deal he got from them this winter. But either way, it’s more money than the three-year, $60 million offer Encarnacion ultimately wound up taking from the Indians.
The A’s had indeed been named as a potential suitor for Encarnacion earlier this month. But it seems likely that the prospects of World Series contention (with Oakland finishing dead last in the AL West last season and Cleveland coming within a fingernail of winning it all) factored into his decision as well.
