Poll: What kind of reception will Encarnacion get in Toronto?

Just shy of eight years ago, as a function of another midseason liquidation by the moribund Blue Jays, Edwin Encarnacion arrived in Toronto a shaky third baseman with an inconsistent bat and even more inconsistent throwing arm.

The Blue Jays didn't want him, but with Scott Rolen hankering for a trade and the Reds willing to oblige, then-general manager J.P. Ricciardi had to take on the doughy infielder to get Josh Roenicke and Zach Stewart from Cincinnati in exchange for his flailing club's veteran third baseman.

And, not surprisingly, he stunk. Encarnacion, even with obvious pop and solid strike-zone awareness, couldn't hit, and he definitely couldn't play defense, routinely gifting souvenirs to the front few rows behind first base with his errant throws. Fans started derisively calling him "E5," and it got to him.

"The fans started yelling at me," Encarnacion told Sportsnet's Stephen Brunt. "I understand that's part of the game if I don't do my work. I know they're going to be pissed. I tried to do the best I could. But it got in my head - and when that gets in your head, it's hard to get it out. I got frustrated a little bit. I couldn't hit because I was thinking about defense."

Two-and-a-half years into his tenure with the Blue Jays, Encarnacion - with his middling offensive numbers and defensive ineptitude - had no future in Toronto.

Then it all clicked.

In 2012, just like teammate Jose Bautista a couple years earlier, Encarnacion - now, mercifully, a first baseman and DH - transformed into one of the game's most productive hitters. That year, fueled by increased selectiveness at the plate, Encarnacion tormented the American League, smashing 42 homers with a .941 OPS while putting up 4.3 WAR in 151 games. Over the next four seasons, as the Blue Jays stormed back to relevance under the stewardship of Alex Anthopoulous, Encarnacion never hit fewer than 34 homers in a season, nor put up an OPS less than 34 percent better than league average. Two Octobers ago, he hit one of the most important - if underrecognized - home runs in franchise history, a game-tying solo shot off Cole Hamels in that nope-I-still-can't-believe-it-happened final game of the 2015 AL Division Series. Last October, he outdid himself, sending the Blue Jays into a second straight ALDS with a walk-off blast off Baltimore Orioles right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez in the wild-card game.

On Monday, the 34-year-old slugger - now in the nascent stages of a three-year deal with Cleveland - will return to Rogers Centre as an icon, having etched his name onto numerous all-time leaderboards over his seven-plus seasons with the Blue Jays while authoring two of the franchise's signature moments, too.

So how will the fans in Toronto receive their erstwhile parrot-walking slugger?