MLB rumors: Blue Jays 'badly covet' Anthony Santander
Today at 01:49 PM
The list of teams interested in Anthony Santander‘s services is a long one, but the Toronto Blue Jays may have extra motivation to land the slugger from their division rivals.
Santander hit 41 home runs for the Baltimore Orioles in a career season at the best possible time — right before free agency. And with Santander hitting the open market, the Blue Jays are desperate for some extra juice. As USA Today’s Bob Nightengale wrote in a column published November 25, team president Mark Shapiro is in the last year of his contract and his Blue Jays teams have underachieved the last few years. To make matters more urgent, team cornerstones Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette are entering their final season of team control.
“They will have to make easily the highest offer if they're successful in landing [Corbin] Burnes or [Max] Fried, along with outfielder Anthony Santander, whom they badly covet,” Nightengale wrote.
He added that Juan Soto is probably not a possibility for the Blue Jays unless they “dramatically outbid” the New York Mets. It may be more likely that Toronto turns its attention to Santander sooner rather than later.
Nightengale, however, offered one line of caution: Knowing that Toronto is likely to overpay this offseason, the team could also just be a means for Santander and his team drive up his price tag.
The Blue Jays have competition for Anthony Santander
The Blue Jays, Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, and New York Yankees are all contenders for Juan Soto, so it should be no surprise that they’re also logical matches for Santander if they miss out.
Once Soto signs, expect the dominoes to start falling. For now, that quartet of teams can all improve in the outfield and they all are known to covet sluggers.
Meanwhile it doesn’t seem like the Orioles are likely to make a push for their right fielder.
“Santander can land a long-term contract with an AAV of roughly $20 million,” one executive told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. “Given the Orioles’ surplus in young offensive talent, it would be surprising if they signed Santander, but there should be several teams that would be willing to sign him to such a deal.”
The executive added that some front offices might be less willing to break the bank over Santander because he hit what appears to be his peak at an older age than his peers. Still, they expect Santander to sign a “long-term deal outside of Baltimore.”
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