Slugger Edwin Encarnacion and the Chicago White Sox are in agreement on a one-year deal for $12 million with a club option for 2021 at $12 million, sources told ESPN.
The deal was first reported by Dominican journalist Yancen Pujols.
The 36-year-old Encarnacion batted .244 in 109 games last season with the Seattle Mariners and New York Yankees. The Yankees acquired the three-time All-Star from Seattle in June to bolster a lineup sapped by injuries. Cash from the Mariners in the trade meant the deal cost New York just $8 million of the $25 million he was owed in 2020, including a $5 million buyout.
Encarnacion led the American League with 21 homers at the time, but a strained left oblique limited the first baseman and designated hitter down the stretch. He hit .249 with 13 homers, 37 RBIs and an .856 OPS in 44 regular-season games with New York.
He hit .308 while the Yankees pounded the Minnesota Twins in the AL Division Series, but he slumped badly in the AL Championship Series against the Houston Astros.
Encarnacion has averaged 37 homers and 106 RBIs since 2012 and helped slug the Toronto Blue Jays to back-to-back appearances in the ALCS, in 2015 and 2016. His 239 homers in Toronto ranks third behind Carlos Delgado (336) and Jose Bautista (265) on the Blue Jays’ career list.
His three-run drive in the 11th inning to beat the Baltimore Orioles in the wild-card game in the 2016 playoffs gave Toronto one of its most indelible moments since Joe Carter’s World Series walk-off handed the Blue Jays a second consecutive title in 1993.
Through his 14th season, Encarnacion has a career .263 average with 414 home runs and 1,242 RBIs for Cincinnati, Toronto, Cleveland, Seattle and the Yankees.