The Blue Jays lastly have an enormous splash, plucking a slugger from a division rival. The Jays formally introduced the signing of star outfielder Anthony Santander to a five-year contract. The Beverly Hills Sports activities Council shopper is reportedly assured $92.5MM, although heavy deferrals drop the web current worth. For luxurious tax functions, the contract reportedly comes with a median annual worth round $14MM — suggesting MLB calculates the web current worth nearer to $70MM. Santander can decide out after the third 12 months, although the membership could have the flexibility to override that by choosing up an possibility for 2030. That has a base worth of $15MM and comprises a $5MM buyout.
The choice and varied escalators might tack on one other $17.5MM over that sixth season. The deal is frontloaded and comprises upwards of $35MM in deferrals, which might push past $50MM relying on the opt-out/possibility end result. Toronto designated lefty Brandon Eisert for project to create a 40-man roster spot.
Santander, 30, has established himself as one of many higher energy bats within the league in recent times. That included an enormous 44-homer tally in 2024. That was his private greatest however it was additionally his sixth straight season in double digits and third straight with at the very least 28 lengthy balls.
Earlier in his profession, he undercut that energy manufacturing considerably with extra tepid outcomes by way of batting common and drawing walks, although he has been higher at drawing free passes over the previous three years. From 2019 to 2021, he hit 49 homers in 240 video games however solely had a 5.2% stroll price. That led to a .252/.295/.474 batting line and 100 wRC+, indicating his strengths and weaknesses evened out to league common manufacturing on the entire.
For the 2022 to 2024 seasons, Santander improved his stroll price by a number of ticks, ending between 8.4% and eight.7% in every of these. That’s roughly league common, with all MLB hitters strolling at an 8.2% clip final 12 months. He added these walks with out sacrificing his energy, placing the ball over the wall 105 occasions, which made for a productive mixture. He had a mixed line of .244/.317/.478 for these three campaigns, which translated to a 124 wRC+.
Aside from these house runs, Santander’s contributions have been pretty restricted. As talked about, the on-base talents have been subpar total, although pretty respectable previously three years. He’s not a burner on the basepaths, having solely as soon as stolen greater than two bases in a season. His outfield protection has usually been graded as a bit under league common. He has a profession tally of -3 Defensive Runs Saved in over 5,000 outfield innings, with Outs Above Common having him at -13.
Although he’s not essentially the most well-rounded participant, he’s a robust match for the Blue Jays for a number of causes. The membership’s offense was truly round league common final 12 months, although with much better on-base capacity than energy manufacturing. As a workforce, the Jays slashed .241/.313/.389 for a 101 wRC+, tied for thirteenth within the league. Their 8.4% stroll price was truly one of many higher marks, tied for seventh among the many 30 MLB golf equipment. However they solely hit 156 house runs, with simply the Marlins, Rays, Nationals and White Sox under them. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was the one man on the workforce to achieve the 20-homer plateau.
On high of that, Santander is a switch-hitter, with the Jays having been extra right-leaning in recent times. Guerrero, Bo Bichette, George Springer and Alejandro Kirk all venture for normal roles subsequent 12 months and every is right-handed. Ernie Clement, Davis Schneider, Leo Jiménez and Orelvis Martínez are additionally righties who might earn spots on the workforce. The Jays do have a number of lefties, with Daulton Varsho, Andrés Giménez, Will Wagner and Joey Loperfido amongst them, although there are query marks there. Varsho and Giménez have been extra glove-first gamers whereas Wagner and Loperfido are nonetheless missing in large league expertise. Santander’s splits have been pretty near impartial in his profession. He has hit .252/.320/.467 for a 116 wRC+ towards lefties, .243/.302/.470 for a 111 wRC+ towards righties.
The defensive hit from rostering Santander can be maybe not an enormous deal for Toronto. The Jays, as a workforce, led the league with 102 DRS final 12 months. Their 26 OAA tally was fourth within the league. Sacrificing a little bit of defensive worth for the large energy bat they want is a smart tradeoff for them. Additionally they don’t have an everyday designated hitter and may maybe preserve Santander in that slot with some regularity. Justin Turner took a lot of the membership’s DH plate appearances in 2024 earlier than being traded to the Mariners on the deadline.
Past the on-field match, the Jays have clearly been on the lookout for an enormous offseason W for fairly a while. The previous year-plus has seen them make sturdy pursuits of marquee gamers, corresponding to Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto, Roki Sasaki, Max Fried and Corbin Burnes, however with the Jays developing simply brief in all of these.
After lacking on Ohtani final winter, the Jays pivoted to modest strikes, re-signing Kevin Kiermaier in addition to including Turner, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Yariel Rodríguez. Nobody in that group obtained a assure bigger than $32MM. The 2024 season then went on to be an enormous disappointment, with the Jays engineering a midseason selloff and ending at 74-88. They appeared to come back into this winter seeking to mollify a disgruntled fan base however the close to misses on Soto, Sasaki, Fried and Burnes solely appeared to make issues worse. Whether or not Santander is a real star is subjective, although this signing might be Toronto’s greatest since they signed Kevin Gausman three years in the past.
One silver lining of the 2024 season falling aside for the Jays was that their midseason promoting dipped them under the aggressive stability tax, which lowered their penalties for signing a participant who rejected a qualifying provide. That’s the case right here, because the Orioles prolonged a QO to Santander, which he naturally rejected. Had the Jays paid the tax in 2024, they’d have forfeited $1MM of worldwide bonus pool area by signing Santander, along with surrendering their second- and fifth-best picks within the draft. By ducking below the tax, the penalty is simply $500K of 2026 pool area and solely their second-best decide. Since Santander is assured greater than $50MM on this deal, the O’s will obtain a compensation decide after the primary spherical of this summer time’s draft.
Coming into the offseason, MLBTR predicted that Santander might safe a four-year, $80MM pact. He appeared to have loads of curiosity, with the Jays linked to him early on. Golf equipment just like the Purple Sox, Tigers, Yankees and Angels have been additionally rumored to have an interest at varied occasions. Santander and his reps reportedly tried to parlay that curiosity right into a five-year deal and/or a $100MM assure in December, per Jon Heyman of The New York Put up. However he lingered unsigned into the brand new 12 months and reportedly had some openness to contemplating a shorter pact.
Ultimately, he has gotten his 5 years, although at a lesser common annual worth than he was in search of. The sticker value of $92.5MM over 5 years results in an $18.5MM AAV, however the deferrals cut back that by an honest quantity. The opt-out provides him an opportunity at some extra future earnings, although the Jays might decide up the choice and successfully make it $110MM over six years.
Utilizing the pre-deferral $18.5MM AAV, RosterResource tasks the membership for a $237MM payroll and $263MM CBT calculation for this 12 months. The membership opened with a payroll of $225MM final 12 months, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, so that they’re already past that. President Mark Shapiro beforehand steered that he didn’t anticipate the membership’s spending to drastically change in comparison with final 12 months, maybe suggesting there’s not a lot room left within the price range now. Although Scott Mitchell of TSN means that signing Pete Alonso continues to be a risk for the Jays even after getting Santander, seemingly indicating in any other case. The membership additionally reportedly has some curiosity in beginning pitching upgrades and has been working to bolster the bullpen all winter. The CBT quantity is already past this 12 months’s $261MM second tier, although the membership might be a “first-time” payor on account of ducking below final 12 months.
Maybe the Jays will make some extra additions, corresponding to bringing in Alonso. Such a transfer would power him and Guerrero to share first base and the DH slot, thus pushing Santander into being an on a regular basis outfielder. If that involves go, he would absolutely be in a single nook with Springer within the different. Varsho would be the membership’s common heart fielder as soon as he’s wholesome. Guys like Loperfido, Nathan Lukes, Myles Straw, Jonatan Clase and Alan Roden will both be choices for depth roles or bench jobs. If Santander is ready to function the DH extra commonly, that would maybe open extra outfield enjoying time for these others.
For the golf equipment that missed on Santander, the outfield market is pretty thinned out. Along with Santander, guys like Soto, Teoscar Hernández, Michael Conforto and Tyler O’Neill have come off the board. Jurickson Profar now stands alone as the highest unsigned possibility, so maybe his market will now decide up. Guys like Randal Grichuk, Harrison Bader, Mark Canha and others are additionally out there.
Jon Morosi of MLB Community first reported that Santander and the Jays have been in settlement, pending a bodily. Ben Nicholson Smith and Shi Davidi of Sportsnet later reported that the bodily was full. Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 first reported the five-year size, the opt-out/membership possibility override, the signing bonus, the $92.5MM assure and the chance to get to $110MM. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported that the opt-out is after 2027. Nicholson-Smith reported the frontloaded nature, in addition to the approximate $14MM CBT worth. Alexander reported that greater than $35MM was deferred.
