Blue Jays Receive Terrible Re-Grade for Signing Star Slugger This Past Winter

What grade did the Toronto Blue Jays receive for their signing of Anthony Santander?

May 20, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays designated hitter Anthony Santander (25) runs the bases and celebrates hitting a two- run home run against the San Diego Padres during the fifth inning at Rogers Centre. | Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

It has been an inconsistent season thus far for the Toronto Blue Jays, who have been struggling to get over the hump.

After what appeared to be a strong winter on paper for the Blue Jays, the team has been unable to find the success they hoped for during the 2025 campaign thus far.

Toronto spent a lot of money to surround Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with talent in moves seemingly driven to win this year since he was scheduled to hit free agency. But the Blue Jays locked their superstar up with a long-term deal, so assessing the state of this team with both the present and future in mind is important.

One of the reasons for the struggles has been some of the new additions not playing well.

Which Signing Has Struggled the Most for Toronto Blue Jays?

Tim Kelly of Bleacher Report recently re-graded some of the top offseason signings from this past winter. Toronto received a dreadful re-grade of a "D" for their signing of Anthony Santander.

Despite being arguably the best power hitter on the free agent market, Santander was far from a lock to be a good signing.

In 2024, the switch-hitting slugger had an excellent campaign.

With the Baltimore Orioles, he slashed .235/.308/.506 with 44 home runs and 102 RBI. Even though the slugging numbers were off the charts for Santander, he didn’t have a good batting average or on-base percentage.

Furthermore, since he's not a good defender in right field, if Santander isn’t hitting the ball out of the park or driving in runs, he doesn’t provide a ton of value.

So far, that has unfortunately been the case in 2025.

This year, he has slashed .193/.280/.327 with six home runs and 18 RBI. The numbers aren’t anywhere near where the Blue Jays were hoping they would be, so the re-grade of a "D" is very fair at this point.

With the All-Star signing a five-year contract, Toronto has to be worried about what this could be like for the next couple of seasons.

While it is still early in the campaign, there is reason to be very concerned about what type of production they are going to get from the slugger going forward.