The two main faces of the Toronto Blue Jays over the past half-decade have been sluggers Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista, and now both are free agents. If both departed and the Blue Jays didn't add from outside the organization, they'd have a massive power gap to fill.

On that front, it's easy to see why these conversations are taking place:

Morales will be 34 next season. He's coming off a .263/.327/.468 year with 24 doubles, 30 homers and 93 RBI. He's not quite the explosive slugger that either of the aforementioned Blue Jays free agents are, but few can match that type of level.

Now, Rosenthal mentioned that the impact of such a signing if unclear, and that makes sense. It's November 11. It would be foolish of the Blue Jays to already have one set plan in place, because things are always fluid, especially this early in the offseason.

Let's say they do sign Morales, though. He can play first, and though he actually appeared in right field for a few games in 2016, that was out of necessity and he really should only DH.

Encarnacion can play first on a quasi-regular basis. Bautista has some time at first base, but mostly is just a right fielder or DH.

It would seem that the only way the equation really works is Morales + Encarnacion = No Joey Bats.

And not the other way around.

Obviously both Encarnacion and Bautista could leave, in which case there's Justin Smoak for first base. Maybe Chris Colabello has a bounce-back year or Dalton Pompey becomes a post-hype breakout player.

For a team with two straight ALCS appearances and no World Series title since 1993, however, it seems like the Blue Jays need to be more in "win-now" mode than hoping things turn out with the current roster.

Which means I think they'll be aggressive in keeping Encarnacion even if they do sign Morales.

For now, though, we're still just wading through all the rumors. That's early-to-mid-November for you.