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If that sounds weird, or whatever, Smoak doesn’t care. He’s just being honest. He and his wife Kristin became the proud parents of a second daughter, Berkleigh Grace, in May and are comfortable in T.O.

“I would love to stay here,” Smoak told the Toronto Sun before Tuesday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles at the Rogers Centre. “(In fact), I’d like to finish my career here honestly.

“I played in Texas, I played in Seattle, two really good places to play, but I feel like I’ve made a home here. We’ve (the Jays) been to the playoffs, we been to the American League championship series twice and so I know that feeling in this city (when the team’s in the playoffs) and to get back to that would be great.”

Smoak DOES want to get back to the playoffs, but he wants to do it with the Jays and he (and this may be wishful thinking) believes that they aren’t far from contending again.

“If we had a team that can’t compete (next year) …” said Smoak. “But I feel like there’s a chance (to contend). I feel like there’s still that opportunity here. There’s some good players in here right now. We’ve had some injuries and stuff like that. And there’s some really good players coming.”

Smoak had a breakout year in 2017 and is batting .255/.365/.463 with 18 home runs and 1.6 WAR over 116 games this season. At $4.124 million this year with a club option for 2019 at $6 million, he’s a relative bargain, making him all that more attractive to a contender looking for an upgrade at first. But, again, Smoak doesn’t want the entertain the idea of being traded.

“I like it here a lot,” he said. “I think everybody wants to contend and go to the playoffs, but at the same time, I feel like the last couple of years I’ve been comfortable here. I like it here a lot.”

The one infield position the Jays don’t really have a top-of-line prospect ready to step in the major leagues is first base, unless Rowdy Tellez ramps it up. So Smoak is one veteran the Jays might be wise to keep around for at least another year.

SBuffery@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/Beezersun