More on Santander

Well, at least I got the Brandon Eisert post in before the Jays DFAed him. He was the lucky one to be removed from the roster to make room for Santander.

Santander is guaranteed $92.5 million over five years. However, the luxury tax value will be $14 million a year with referrals. There is an opt-out after three years (but I’d bet he won’t take it). And there is an option for a sixth-year at $15 million with a $5 million buyout.

He’s 30 now. We’ll see how he ages. I think he’ll be getting the buyout.

Over the last three seasons, FanGraphs has valued him at $18.8 million, $21.1 million, and $26.5 million.

By five years in, Santander will likely be more a DH than an outfielder.

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The Jays have the question of whether they should release George Springer before the end of his contract. Last year, he was 1.1 bWAR. I’d rather have Loperfido in right field next year, but it is more challenging for the team to give up on all the money he is owed.

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ZiPs think the Jays are a mid-80-win team now. If they can add one or two more guys…..well never know.

But I wish they had signed Vlad already.

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Keith Law, in the Athletic, has a less than positive review.

I was afraid this was going to happen: After multiple free-agent pursuits that saw the Blue Jays come up short, they finally landed a big name … but it took a huge overpay to do it. They gave Anthony Santander a five-year, $92 million deal, with player options and deferred money and other bells and whistles, a deal that should certainly make them 2-3 wins better this year, but that I really doubt is going to age well at all.

To be fair, few free-agent signings age well. George Springer?

He’s a below-average defender in an outfield corner and likely to decline further now that he’s in his 30s. The glove is still playable out there for now, with the need to DH increasingly likely over the course of his contract.

Yeah, he’ll be a DH before it is over. But then you could say the same about the Soto

George Springer might be toast, as he’s 35 and his production has declined in five straight full seasons. He still has two years and just over $48 million remaining on his deal, which no one is going to take, and they need to just bench him and give Santander those at-bats. The other corner is still available, although I’d like to see Joey Loperfido, acquired in the Yusei Kikuchi trade, get a shot there. They need to stop wasting at-bats on guys like Davis Schneider, who got 454 PA to be a replacement-level player last year, mostly in left field, or Ernie Clement, an outstanding defender at third base who had a .284 OBP and drew 10 unintentional walks in 139 games. Give that playing time to guys who either get on base or hit dingers, please and thank you.

I agree on Schneider. One of the signs of the 2026 Jays season going down the drain will be Schneider getting more than 100 at-bats.

Clement? It would be so much better if he could take a walk more than once every two weeks, but I think he would make a good utility infielder. He could play twice or thrice a week, and we’d be pretty happy.

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Dan Szymborski has a more even-handed review of the signing.

Other than crushing homers, Santander doesn’t have an exciting set of skills, but he’s also better than your typical one-dimensional slugger. His defense isn’t good, but he isn’t a disaster in the outfield. He gets the most out of his power because he doesn’t pound pitches into the ground, and his ability to make contact is better than his low on-base percentage would suggest. He’s a switch hitter who is good against pitchers of both handedness; he has a career 116 wRC+ against lefties and a 111 wRC+ vs. righties. He also doesn’t struggle against any particular pitch type much more than others. Altogether, he’s certainly not as dangerous at the plate as some of the game’s more complete power hitters, but he doesn’t have an obvious weakness, and opposing teams can’t exploit him with specific matchups.

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This looks good: