Blue Jays agree to deal with OF Anthony Santander

The Toronto Blue Jays finally have another big bat.

Anthony Santander agreed to a deal with the Blue Jays on Monday, Sportsnet can confirm, giving the club some much-needed power.

The Athletic‘s Ken Rosenthal and ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported the deal is for five years and more than $90 million.

Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith reports the signing pushes the Jays over the second Competitive Balance Tax threshold of $261 million.

The move comes after the Blue Jays didn’t succeed in free-agent pitches for several other prominent players, including Roki Sasaki, Corbin Burnes and Juan Soto.

The Blue Jays are hoping the 30-year-old outfielder helps a club that has star players Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. entering their final year of club control. Toronto finished last in the AL East last year at 74-88.

In 155 games with Baltimore last season, Santander slashed .235/.308/.506 and clubbed a career-high 44 home runs. He was named an All-Star for the first time last year.

Since he became a full-time player with the Orioles in 2022, Santander’s 105 homers trail only five players in the majors: Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Schwarber, Pete Alonso and Matt Olson.

Last season, the switch-hitting Venezuelan had a career-best fWAR of 3.3 and was named to his first MLB All-Star game.

Santander has a career-high 21 home runs against the Blue Jays.