4 of the Blue Jays' best backup plans if they miss out on Juan Soto

With the current Toronto Blue Jays offseason, a lot of the focus has been on their pursuit of top free agent Juan Soto. Much like how last year’s signing of Shohei Ohtani has panned out with the Los Angeles Dodgers this season, the potential addition of Soto could ultimately become a huge game changer for the franchise.

Things are certainly looking up for the Jays, as they appear to be one of the finalists among those who have submitted offers in the Soto sweepstakes as of this moment. But what happens if it doesn’t work out in the end?

If we look back again to last offseason, the Jays didn’t have a backup plan after their failed attempt to land Ohtani. They did end up adding solid pieces in Justin Turner, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Yariel Rodríguez, but none of them provided the significant impact that could have led the team to glory like how Ohtani did with the Dodgers. 

As a result, the Jays should have a plan in place this time around to ensure that they don’t go home empty-handed even if they miss out on Soto. Here, we will take a look at four prime candidates who Toronto can fall back on if they fail to sign the 26-year-old phenom. If the Jays can still manage to grab one of these targets, their offseason could still be deemed a success. 

4 of the Blue Jays best backup plans if they miss out on Juan Soto

Anthony Santander, OF

The Jays sure know a thing or two about Anthony Santander and his tenure with the Baltimore Orioles. With 49 runs scored and 21 career home runs against Toronto, the most he has put up against any team in the league, Santander had been a constant Jays killer all these years in an Orioles uniform. What better way to stop having to constantly face their nemesis than to sign him up to the team?

Santander is coming off the best season of his career in 2024 with the Orioles. In what turned out to be an All-Star season, he compiled a .235 batting average with an .814 OPS, 91 runs scored, 25 doubles, two triples, 44 home runs and 102 RBI in 155 games. Those numbers also netted him his first-ever Silver Slugger Award.

Santander has also shown to be quite durable in recent years, having played in at least 152 games in each of his past three seasons. That is an important factor to consider from the Jays’ standpoint, given that their main starting outfielders in the past couple of seasons (Daulton Varsho, Kevin Kiermaier and George Springer) have all missed some time due to injury or illness.

Also, as perhaps the second-best outfield free agent option behind Soto, Santander would be classified as a big offseason signing for any team, let alone the Jays. As a result, fans would likely be satisfied with such a potentially huge-impact player if Toronto were to miss out on Soto.