Latest Anthony Santander rumors have Blue Jays on brink of a familiar failure

Going back to last offseason, fans of the Toronto Blue Jays have had to deal with a lot of disappointment. Despite having an ownership group and front office that is willing to spend, attracting top talent to Toronto has been extremely difficult lately, to say the least. Obviously, the name that sticks out here is the Blue Jays' well-chronicled failure to sign Shohei Ohtani last offseason, but Toronto has missed out on a number of top names this offseason as well.

The Blue Jays pushed hard for Juan Soto and fell short; they may have even had the highest bid, prior to Steve Cohen blowing the doors off. Other targets (to varying degrees) like Max Fried, Corbin Burnes, Teoscar Hernández, and Blake Snell all signed with other teams. While missing out on a player here and there is to be expected, there is a growing trend of top talent not wanting to play for the organization.

Now, there is a real risk that that trend could continue.

The Blue Jays are currently considered to be among the heavy favorites to sign slugging outfielder Anthony Santander. However, a report from MLB insider Hector Gomez suggests that not only are the Blue Jays competing with the Angels for Santander, but the Astros are now apparently firmly involved in the bidding as well.

Blue Jays losing Anthony Santander to the Astros or Angels would be a disastrous development

Other than the fact that the Astros just spent a chunk of their available resources to sign Christian Walker, the fit between Houston and Santander makes loads of sense. They just traded Kyle Tucker away, and with two outfielders in Chas McCormick and Jake Meyers whose futures are speculative at best, adding a proven commodity like Santander, who consistently posts an .800-or-better OPS each season, is logical.

Unfortunately, this comes as bad news for the Blue Jays, who may have to overpay for Santander to have any chance in this sweepstakes. Whether it is the fact that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette could easily leave after the 2025 season, the Blue Jays' struggles to a last place finish in a brutal AL East last season, or their uncertain outlook going forward, players seem especially unwilling to relocate to Canada these days (and maybe the geography is part of it, too). Sadly, the idea that Santander could choose to go to a contender like the Astros - even if the Jays top out with a higher offer - is a scarily familiar scenario.

The good news is that Gomez's report still has the Blue Jays in the hunt for Santander, and it feels unlikely that money will be the problem here (from Toronto's end, at least). Santander may want more years than Toronto would want to give him, but most sane teams will be of the same general opinion on contract length for the 30-year-old. In terms of dollars, Toronto is likely to be the team that can provide the most money guaranteed. One hopes that, for once, that will be enough to close the deal.

More Blue Jays News from Jays Journal