Shapiro speaks on upcoming free agents
Speaking with Jeff Blair and Stephen Brunt on The Fan 590 on Friday, Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro gave an honest — and likely accurate — opinion on Toronto’s pending free agents.
“I don’t like to speak in absolutes but I think that’s probably the most likely scenario,” Shapiro said when asked about Bautista, Encarnacion, Saunders, and others hitting the open market.
If done correctly, there can even be a strategic advantage to allowing players to hit free agency. Someone like Encarnacion will have no trouble finding the money he’s worth, but for a player like Bautista, a soft market and low offers from other teams could be their greatest bargaining chip (assuming they want to bargain at all).