In no world are we going to fault the Toronto Blue Jays for signing an impact player. Then again, there’s reason for New York Yankees fans to be glad their rivals decided to take the plunge with Anthony Santander on Monday.
According to reports, the Jays gave the slugger a five-year, $90 million contract. The middle of their lineup has been upgraded … but let’s not overlook the fact this is a costly consolation prize for Toronto, who missed out on Shohei Ohtani (and others) last offseason as well as Juan Soto, Corbin Burnes, Teoscar Hernandez, Roki Sasaki (and others) this offseason.
Santander is undoubtedly the least enticing and proven out of that group. And to commit $18.5 million a season to a designated hitter (Santander is a negative dWAR player) is an immense risk when the futures of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette and more are very much not in focus.
Historically, these are the types of moves the Yankees make a living off avoiding. That’s why they got ahead of the Max Fried deal at the Winter Meetings, giving him $218 million over eight years. Call it an overpay, but the Yankees got a premier talent to maximize this window and took him from a number of their direct competitors. They didn’t want this to linger and become a Blake Snell situation.
Though the Yankees no longer wield the luster once associated with the organization during and after the dynasty years, they are still a major influence and remain appealing enough as a destination to contend every year.
As for Toronto? They have infrequent ebbs and flows of success. And their most recent window was made possible by the organization going forth with a genius plan to draft the sons of former major leaugers (Guerrero Jr., Bichette and Cavan Biggio). In the meantime, they remained relevant enough to sign players like Chris Bassitt, Kevin Gausman, Jeff Hoffman and George Springer, but that’s only gotten them to the Wild Card round. The Jays haven’t won a playoff game since 2016, which was the last time they appeared in the ALCS. They snapped a 21-year playoff drought in 2015.
This is the second-richest ownership group in MLB, yet the organization operates like a mid-market club, whether it’s a destination issue or a spending issue. Whatever it may be, bloating the payroll for a 30-year-old DH who didn’t play his first full season until 2022 is the type of defeated attempt at a marquee signing the Yankees could only hope for from a division rival.
There’s a chance the Blue Jays rebound in 2025 to make a run at the playoffs. They have the talent. But is it enough? That’s the question everybody keeps asking. And it seems they’re bound to repeat that same problem after the Santander signing if they can’t extend Guerrero Jr. before Opening Day.
