Juan Soto declined offers from the Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Boston Red Sox in order to sign a monumental $765 million deal with the New York Mets.
Now the other four teams have to pivot to backup plans, with the three teams in the American League East (Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays) having very similar needs.
MLB Network’s Jon Morosi has reported that each of these three AL East teams is showing strong interest in the same outfielder as part of an emergency backup plan for Soto.
“Anthony Santander has strong interest from the AL East clubs that fell short on Juan Soto: Blue Jays, Red Sox, Yankees. Santander’s 44 HR this season are the 5th-most by a switch hitter, following Mickey Mantle (twice), Lance Berkman, and Chipper Jones,” Morosi wrote in a post to Twitter/X on Monday.
Santander is a very talented outfielder with the ability to switch hit. These three AL East clubs know him well since Santander has spent the last eight years with the Baltimore Orioles. In that time, the outfielder has crushed 155 home runs including a career-high 44 homers last season.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post projects the Orioles veteran to sign a five-year, $100 million deal this winter. Any of the three AL East teams listed could afford this contract for the impressive slugger. I’d be very surprised to see Santander sign with any team besides the three former Soto suitors.