Blue Jays finally make offseason splash, steal Baltimore Orioles slugger

There is no denying that the Toronto Blue Jays desperately needed a win this offseason. They lost out on Juan Soto. They lost out on Roki Sasaki. They had lost out on every big free agent they had gone after. Oh, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is set to be a free agent after 2025 with little in the way of progress in talks, while Bo Bichette is as good as gone.

For a team as talented as the Blue Jays are, that is still a pretty dire situation.

All it takes is one move to change everything, though. There are still a number of high quality free agents out there and, if the rumor mill was to be believed, the Blue Jays remain in the thick of almost all of their markets to some degree. However, getting to the finish line has been a problem for Toronto, and there were no guarantees whatsoever that they'd attract a star.

Thankfully, the Blue Jays actually got it done this time. According to reports, after so many misses the last couple of years, Toronto is landing former Orioles slugger Anthony Santander.

Blue Jays finally land a big bat after agreeing to terms with Anthony Santander

According to Ken Rosenthal, it's a five-year, "over $90 million" deal with a possible club option.

It is important to not oversell Santander too much here. The guy has a career .246 hitter who has never had an OBP over .325 and who brings nothing to the table defensively. If you were looking for Soto Lite or a more well-rounded player, he just isn't that. However, that is perfectly okay and there are perfectly good reasons why the Blue Jays have been interested in Santander all offseason.

What Santander most obviously brings is undeniable power, as he is coming off a career season where he cracked 44 dingers and is pretty much a lock for 30ish homers a year at least. He also has a reputation as a great clubhouse leader, which is really helpful during the dog days of the season where the team has to keep things together and the season starts feeling long.

More importantly, though, is that this deal finally changes this narrative that the Blue Jays can't attract top talent. There were already too many folks ignoring the fact that Toronto had little trouble signing big names just a couple years ago. Now, the argument that the Blue Jays will never be a destination holds even less water. Lengthening the lineup with Santander also can't hurt the team's ongoing efforts to extend Guerrero Jr., as he should see that the organization is looking to compete in the long-term.

There is still work to be done. Adding another starter would be ideal, and the bullpen could use reinforcements, even after Jeff Hoffman came aboard. For now, though, Blue Jays fans can rest easy that Toronto finally closed the deal and are looking like they could be more dangerous in 2025 than many think.

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