Former Baltimore Orioles Slugger Says 'Zero Chance' He Would've Accepted Their Offer

The Baltimore Orioles lost one of their veteran sluggers this offseason, and he made it clear there was "zero chance" he would have accepted their offer as is.

Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Anthony Santander hits an RBI single against the Detroit Tigers at Joker Marchant Stadium. | Mike Watters-Imagn Images

The Baltimore Orioles have had a very interesting offseason overall, both when it comes to adding new players and letting others walk.

They brought in some key pieces like Tyler O'Neill, Tomoyuki Sugano and Charlie Morton, but they also lost some such as Corbin Burnes and Anthony Santander.

The latter of the two was somewhat of an unprecedented loss, as Santander had been with the club ever since he was selected by them in the Rule 5 Draft in 2016.

That led to 746 games played by him for the Orioles, and in 2024, he made his first All-Star Game and secured his first Silver Slugger Award on the back of what was perhaps his best season.

But Baltimore seemingly did not make a competitive offer to retain him.

Directly, he was asked if there was any chance he would have accepted the offer made by the Orioles this offseason, and as reported by Jacob Calvin Meyer of The Baltimore Sun, the outfielder responded, "Nah. Zero chance. Zero chance at all. They make an offer, but it wasn't even close. We get it. We understand. It's a business side, Mike [Elias] is really smart about it. We're smart about it too."

That is a difficult pill to swallow.

Santander has been getting increasingly better year over year, and to hear there was zero chance he would have returned on the offer they made is pretty indicative of what the true value of it was.

Still, keeping him around would have been difficult given their prospect pipeline is typically bursting at the seams with new talent every year.

Enrique Bradfield Jr. is going to need an opportunity to play at some point, so an open outfield spot may be a benefit for the franchise eventually.

So, the five-year, $92 million deal the Toronto Blue Jays ended up landing him with this offseason was always going to be the better offer than what the Orioles extended him.

But with that said, it is a tough loss for the club as they look to compete once again in 2025.

Any time a team loses one of their long-tenured players, it is going to sting a bit for the fan base and club alike. But at the end of the day, it made sense to move on and let him have an opportunity elsewhere to get his money as Baltimore keeps their eye on the future.