Where does Blue Jays' Anthony Santander signing rank among Ross Atkins' best moves?

What are the moves Ross Atkins has made that truly made the Blue Jays a better team?

Tampa Bay Rays v Toronto Blue Jays
Tampa Bay Rays v Toronto Blue Jays | Tom Szczerbowski/GettyImages
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Gausman and Chapman come north

On Dec. 1, 2021, the Blue Jays signed Kevin Gausman to a five-year, $110 million deal, and on March 16, 2022, the Blue Jays received Matt Chapman from the Oakland Athletics in exchange for Zach Logue, Gunnar Hoglund, Kirby Sneed and Kevin Smith.

Gausman has been terrific for the Blue Jays throughout his tenure. He led the league in strikeouts in 2023 with 237, as well as SO/9 with 11.5. He was also tops in FIP in 2022 with 2.38 and SO/BB rate at 7.32. He was a top-ten Cy Young Award vote-getter in 2022, and finished third in the voting in 2023. The Blue Jays got everything they’ve needed and could have wanted out of Gausman through the first three years of the deal.

In two years with Toronto, Chapman accumulated an 8.0 WAR, most of which came through his defense, winning a Gold Glove award in 2023. At the plate, he still provided a .327 OBP and 112 OPS+ with a combined 44 home runs. Getting an elite defensive infielder who had a lot of upside potential  with his bat in exchange for four guys who haven’t made an impact at the major league level thus far has to be considered a win.

It's hard to judge the Santander signing against these moves at this point, since he has yet to play a game in Toronto. In terms of matching a skill set with a need, though, Atkins getting Santander is on par with re-signing Ray or Semien, based on the potential impact those players could and did have with Toronto.

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