E5 is back: Edwin Encarnacion to play 3B full-time; Bautista back to RF

Greg Chisholm of MLB.com reported earlier today via Twitter that the Blue Jays have made a change to the on-field lineup: Edwin Encarnacion will now be the team’s full-time 3rd baseman, while Jose Bautista will return to right field, in his preferred position. The official line on the change is that the team wants to give Encarnacion a chance to continue to prove himself at 3rd, as he has shown some improvement at the position over the last year. This change will also mean that Juan Rivera will go back to DH. There are several implications to this, though none of them are major. Brett Lawrie is being groomed to take 3rd base at some point, perhaps as early as the middle of the season; Bautista would have been moved back to RF when that happened anyway, so that’s not much of an issue. Both Encarnacion and Bautista are actually below average defensive players at 3rd range wise, with Bautista possessing a stronger arm that could end up playing better in RF. Encarnacion is s...