‘Didn’t want him’: How Encarnacion went from trade throw-in to Blue Jays icon

After trading away franchise stalwarts Roy Halladay and Vernon Wells in consecutive off-seasons around the turn of the 2010s, the Toronto Blue Jays were in search of a new batch of stars to lead the club into its next era of winning baseball.

José Bautista had arrived in a major way in 2010, bashing a Blue Jays single-season record of 54 homers before inking a five-year extension worth $64 million in February 2011.

But even with Bautista’s breakout, Toronto still needed impact talent to support its slugging right-fielder.

Luckily for the Blue Jays, another middle-of-the-order threat was already on their roster, even if they didn’t know it yet.

Ahead of the 2009 trade deadline, Toronto had shipped future Hall of Fame third baseman Scott Rolen to the Cincinnati Reds for a package headlined by pitching prospect Zach Stewart, which also included right-hander Josh Roenicke and third baseman Edwin Encarnación.

Little did the Blue Jays know that Encarnación, who was slashing .209/.333/.374 at the time of the trade, would end up being the prize of the return from Cincinnati.

“We didn’t want him,” then-Toronto general manager Alex Anthopoulos said in Part 6 of the Sportsnet documentary, The Blue Jays Way, commemorating the franchise’s 50th season. “Edwin was forced on us. Yonder Alonso was supposed to be the headliner in the deal, and Zach Stewart’s the guy we wanted.

“Alonso being in the deal leaked. And once it leaked, the Reds took him off the table because the fan base reacted.”

(The sixth part of The Blue Jays Way: Flipping the Script will air on Sunday, Aug. 16, following Toronto’s game against the New York Yankees on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.)

So, the trade was consummated with Stewart, Roenicke and Encarnación heading north to join the Blue Jays on their way to a 75-87 finish.

“I was a young guy, and now I got to go to Toronto, another country to play baseball,” Encarnación said in the documentary. “It was very hard for me, but after I got there, everything changed.”

Although he ultimately ended his time in Toronto as a franchise legend, Encarnación didn’t quite hit the ground running with the Blue Jays.

Over his final 42 games of 2009, the Dominican corner infielder posted a .748 OPS, following that up with a .787 mark and 21 homers in 2010 — respectable numbers, but nothing that showed the explosion that was on the horizon.

In the 2010 off-season, Encarnación was even claimed off waivers by the Oakland Athletics before being non-tendered and returning to the Blue Jays on a $2.5-million contract with a club option for 2012.

In 2011, Encarnación struggled mightily on defence, making eight errors and posting an .892 fielding percentage over 36 games at the hot corner. He did, however, spend more time in Toronto’s designated hitter spot in the second half, which seemingly opened up his offensive game.

“We felt, as a front office, (that) there’s more in there,” Anthopoulos said.

“Anthopoulos always was on top of me, like, ‘You’re a better hitter when you take your walks and when you don’t swing at pitches outside of the strike zone,'” Encarnación added. “… And he was right.”

That improved approach indeed brought better results in the second half of 2011 for Encarnación, who boosted his walk rate from 3.5 to 12.5 per cent while slashing .291/.382/.504 with 11 homers in 64 games to close out the season.

It turned out to be just the start of one of the greatest stretches by a power hitter in Blue Jays history.

Encarnación returned to blast 42 jacks in 2012 before adding 36, 34, 39 and 42 once again in each of the next four seasons, ending his Toronto career with 239 big flies — a mark that still stands as the third most by any Blue Jays slugger.

To go with his many regular-season blasts, the now-43-year-old Encarnación mixed in four playoff homers for Toronto across its repeat trips to the ALCS in 2015 and 2016.

It’s the walk-off shot in the 2016 wild-card game against the Baltimore Orioles at Rogers Centre, however, that will stand as the lasting image of Encarnación in a Blue Jays uniform.

With the score tied 2-2 in the bottom of the 11th with one out, Orioles manager Buck Showalter famously turned to right-hander Ubaldo Jiménez to face the top of Toronto’s order rather than calling upon all-star closer Zack Britton.

“We saw him warm up; I don’t know, maybe it was the ninth. Best reliever in baseball that year, right?” Bautista said in The Blue Jays Way. “The fact that Zack Britton didn’t get put in the game, that’s (what) I remember the most.”

Jiménez entered and allowed back-to-back singles to Devon Travis and Josh Donaldson, bringing Encarnación to the plate with the clinching run in scoring position.

“There was a matchup that I never thought I was going to see in Ubaldo Jiménez, who pretty much had our number the whole year, except one person,” Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin said.

“That’s Edwin Encarnación.”

There was no waiting around in the at-bat, as Encarnación attacked a first-pitch sinker from Jiménez, depositing the offering 440 feet into the left-field bleachers.

After making contact, Encarnación immediately raised his arms to the sky and dropped his bat, soaking in the hysteria of the sold-out Toronto crowd before taking his parrot for an electric trip around the bases.

“It’s one of the best feelings I’ve ever had because the wild card is win or go home,” Encarnación said. “So, it was a very special moment for me.”

A special moment in a career filled with them. Over the course of his eight years in Toronto, Encarnación not only socked a ton of dingers, but he was named to three all-star teams, received down-ballot MVP votes in four separate seasons and established himself among the franchise leaders in a variety of offensive categories.

It certainly makes you consider what might not have been had the Reds not insisted on including Encarnación in the return for Rolen.