Edwin had a good season in 2008, hitting .251/.340/.466 with 26 home runs in 506 at bats for Cincinnati. It was pretty much in line with the two seasons he had before. 2009 should have been a good year since he was just 26. But he had a sore wrist starting in spring training. At the end of April he was hitting just .127 and they found he chipped bone in his wrist. He missed all of May.
At the trade deadline Scott Rolen wanted to be traded closer to home. The Jays got pitching prospects Zack Stewart and Josh Roenicke and well as Edwin for him, not a bad deal for one that we were forced to make. For the Reds Edwin hit
For us he hit
So it was not a good season, he had to get hot at the end of the season to bring his WAR value back to 0.
Encarnacion hit lefties (.250/.348/.467) far better than righties (.219/.312/.395).
He hit much better in Cincinnati, at the Great American Ballpark (.254/.390/.429) than he did at Rogers Center (.227/.294/.373) or on the road (.213/.301/.419).
By month Edwin hit:
April .127/.286/.190
July .276/.375/.526
August .186/.206/.271
Sept/Oct .274/.364/.547
He had a terrible April, got his wrist fixed, then was great in July, got traded to the Jays and was terrible in August then was terrific again in September. I had been working on the theory that his wrist had been sore until September but it looks like he was fine in July and then couldn't hit after he got traded. Then after a month he got it together again. So what does this mean for next year? I don't know.
His longest hitting streak was 6 games, once in July with the Reds and once in September with us.
His favorite team to play was the Phillies (.417/.462/.833). Least favorite was Atlanta (.091/.167/.091) but the was in just 3 games.
Defensively he wasn't good. He had a -18.4 UZR/150. He also had 11 errors for a .947 fielding percentage at third base. I thought, watching, that his defense improved the longer he was with the Jays. It seemed to me that his footwork was all messed up when he got to Toronto. I'm hoping that working with Brian Butterfield has and will continue to make his defense better. He does have a strong arm. Getting his feet to work right so that the 'strong arm' can hit a target would help make him a reasonable third baseman.
All-in-all I'm very curious to see what he does with the team next year. I keep reading about the team being interested in finding someone else to play third but I think the team has far more pressing problems. I'd rather the team find a shortstop, catcher and right fielder before replacing Edwin. Let's give him a shot, he could give us 25 homers and play a decent 3B. If he doesn't.....well Anthopoulos has told us we aren't winning this year anyway, if he shows he's not up to the task then we can find someone else for 2011.