Early in the afternoon, the Blue Jays announced that they’ve signed All-Star slugger Anthony Santander to a 5-year deal, worth just over $92.5M, with some deferred money that hasn’t been announced at this time.

Santander immediately becomes a top-3 hitter on this Blue Jays team, slotting in the 2-4 spot in the batting order. Santander is fresh off a 44-homer season, where he hit .235/.308/.506 and batted in 102 runners. Santander hit 28 and 33 home runs in the prior two seasons, so he adds a strong and solidified power bat to this lineup that is desperately needed.

Following the Juan Soto and Roki Sasaki drama, the Jays have made their signing with one of the best hitters on the market. Comparing him to former Blue Jay Teoscar Hernandez, Santander brings a better contact rate, less strikeouts, and most importantly; he can hit from both sides of the plate. What makes Santander so intriguing is that he is a switch hitter, making him even more effective late in games, and should have drawn him more attention than many of the other hitters on the market.

Santander has been labeled as a “Jay Killer” over the last number of seasons, and now he can wreck teams for the Blue Jays. Santander is the type of player that the Blue Jays needed in this contact heavy lineup, being the Blue Jay “type” if you will. Signing Santander gives players the hope that this team will be competitive, and it’s not a bad thing for this move to sway Bichette and Guerrero to resign in Toronto.

Toronto can’t be done here. They still should go out and look for another starter, and with the amount of high-end relievers still on the market, they should go out and get one of those as well. If the Jays want to make a huge splash and show teams that they aren’t just second options, they should go out and get a corner infielder like Alex Bregman. If that isn’t in the cards, they can go all-out and sign Pete Alonso, moving Vlad to the hot corner, and slotting in as the DH on occasion.

Anthony Santander has made sense for the #BlueJays all along, so this is tidy business.

A simple, solid move which immediately makes their lineup better. I think Vladdy will like it.

With one big bat signed, this is where the org. needs to be aggressive and keep the pedal down.

— Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) January 20, 2025

Projected Lineup:

1. Bo Bichette (SS)
2. Joey Loperfido (LF)
3. Vladimir Guerrero Jr (1B)
4. Anthony Santander (DH)
5. George Springer (RF)
6. Daulton Varsho (CF)
7. Andres Gimenez (2B)
8. Will Wagner (3B)
9. Alejandro Kirk (C)