Jays extend Smoak for two more seasons

By Andrew Hendriks
Canadian Baseball Network
The Toronto Blue Jays have came to terms with Justin Smoak on a two-year contract extension on Saturday.
 
Smoak, 29, will earn $4.125 million (US) in both 2017 and 2018. The Blue Jays also hold a club option for the 2019 season valued at $6.0 million with a $250,000 opt out clause.
 
Selected by the Texas Rangers in the first round of the 2008 draft, Smoak has accumulated an overall slash line of .225/.310/.393 across 780 major league contests entering play Saturday.
 
Checking in at 6-foot-4, the switch-hitting first sacker has always displayed excellent defensive metrics over his seven seasons in the show while, at times, proving to be potent threat at the dish.
 
Relegated to a platoon role in 2016, eight of his nine home runs on the season have come from the left side of the plate. In all, Smoak owns a career .723 OPS vas. right-handed pitching (1941 PA).
 
With exception of current teammate Edwin Encarnacion, the market for free agent first basemen is considered weaker than other positions entering the offseason.
 
Along with Logan Morrison, Smoak was the youngest available first baseman on the market prior to Saturday’s extension. Other notable names include a heavy class of left handed hitting batsmen, along with righties Steve Pearce and Sean Rodriguez, who cold both provide the Blue Jays with a viable (and cheaper) option to platoon with Smoak in 2017.
 
Of course, the extension also sets up at scenario that could see the Blue Jays set their sights on Jose Bautista in the off-season should Encarnacion land elsewhere.
 
With his recent bout of turf toe, Bautista has become far more affordable than his Dominican counterpart, and the 35 year-old slugger would slot in nicely as the teams first base/designated hitter in a role similar to that of Encarnacion this season.
 
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