The Blue Jays have been tied to Anthony Santander as a lot as any crew in current weeks. Whereas there’s nonetheless no settlement in place, Shi Davidi and Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet report that the Jays’ talks with the free agent slugger “picked up” this morning.
Toronto is reeling from one other near-miss on a high free agent. Their talks with Roki Sasaki have been by no means linked to the potential of a Santander transfer. Sasaki’s hard-capped bonus meant that his determination wouldn’t have impacted the Jays’ massive league payroll. Nonetheless, his determination to signal with the Dodgers leaves the Jays with no headlining free agent acquisition this winter. Their massive splash on the open market was the three-year, $33MM deal for reliever Jeff Hoffman. Toronto’s most vital transfer has come through commerce, as they took on the remaining 5 years of the Andrés Giménez contract from the Guardians.
Giménez is a defensive stalwart at second base, however he doesn’t present an enormous increase offensively. The Jays sorely want an influence bat, specifically. They have been within the backside 5 of MLB in residence runs final season. Their .389 crew slugging share was twentieth. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit 30 residence runs; nobody else on the crew had greater than 19 longballs. They’re solely returning three hitters who slugged over .400: Guerrero, Ernie Clement and Daulton Varsho. Clement is mostly a light-hitting utilityman, whereas Varsho is anticipated to open the season on the injured listing after present process rotator cuff surgical procedure in September.
The switch-hitting Santander has 4 20-homer seasons below his belt. He has linked on not less than 28 longballs in every of the final three years, together with a personal-high 44 final season. Santander hit .235/.308/.506 throughout 665 plate appearances in his stroll 12 months for the Orioles. Solely Aaron Choose and Shohei Ohtani had extra residence runs a season in the past.
Toronto has additionally been linked to Pete Alonso in current days. Alonso is the one different unsigned free agent who rivals or tops Santander’s energy. The latter is a cleaner positional match. Whereas Alonso would both have to function a delegated hitter or power the Jays to maneuver Guerrero to 3rd base pretty often, Santander would slot into the nook outfield. The Jays don’t have a transparent starter in left subject. George Springer is anticipated to play proper subject, however he’s 35 years outdated and coming off a mediocre season (.220/.303/.371).
The Jays reportedly had a proposal out to Santander a pair weeks in the past. Clearly, that didn’t meet his asking worth on the time. The Athletic reported final week that he might now be open to a shorter-term contract at greater annual values. Earlier within the offseason, Santander was reportedly looking for 5 years and a deal at or above $100MM.
