Edwin Encarnación to Seattle, Bauers to Cleveland in apparent three-team trade

Edwin Encarnación is heading to the Mariners, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, reports. Leave it to Jerry Dipoto to take it to the final moments of the Winter Meetings to broker a deal. In exchange for Encarnación, Passan reports that Cleveland will receive Carlos Santana. But wait, there’s more!

According to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, the Rays are also involved in this deal. Cleveland will receive Jake Bauers in exchange for Yandy Diaz and a classic PTBNL.

The three-time All-Star that Seattle will be receiving still has a lot of power in the tank. Encarnación .246/.336/.474 last season, hitting 32 homers and notching 107 RBIs. The 14-year veteran may not even stay in Seattle once the deal is done and could just be another chip. The Mariners have a lot of strong corner infielders coming up through the system and may want to take the risk (and the salary dump) there. Encarnación is owed $24M through the 2019, including a buyout on a club option.

Santana was a pure flip for Jerry Dipoto, who has clearly been watching a lot of HGTV lately. Not sure if the ink on the first baseman’s contract from Philadelphia is even dry yet.

Jake Bauers was fresh into The Show last season, slashing .201/.316/.384 in 323 at bats. The 2013 7th-round draft pick was looked at the be the next big hope for the Rays at first base next season, so deepest apologies to our friends over at DRaysBay.

Third baseman Yandy Diaz will also be heading to Cleveland, now giving the team an even stronger set of young corner infielders. While the Cuban born Diaz has only seen 299 plate appearances over his two season with Cleveland, he was successful in the minors and hits for contact over power, giving him a lot of versatility.

In addition to Encarnación, Seattle will also receive a compensatory Draft pick, making the quest for fresh, young arms that much more within reach (in, like, four years but whatever).

I refuse to say “three-way”. Sue me.