Concerns Mounting for Blue Jays Amid ‘Total Disaster’ Contract Worries

Very rarely can a player’s multi-year contract be called a “total disaster,” at least for performance reasons, only a month-plus into the season.

Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller only partially disagrees. As the calendar turned to May, Miller recently listed a major weakness for each team and expressed concerns about several players, including Toronto Blue Jays designated hitter Anthony Santander.

Santander, who signed a five-year, $92.5 million contract in December, has had a start to forget in Toronto. The veteran slugger entered Monday hitting .178 with four home runs and 12 RBI.

Santander’s .310 slugging percentage is nearly 200 points lower than last year’s .506, and he’s already been worth -0.6 bWAR. That’s not quite what the Blue Jays envisioned when they poached him away from the rival Baltimore Orioles.

Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Anthony SantanderDaniel Kucin Jr&period;-Imagn Images

“He has notoriously started slow in April throughout his career, though,” Miller acknowledged, “so we’ll at least give him until Memorial Day before we call this contract a total disaster.”

Indeed, Santander is a career .204 hitter with 16 home runs, 61 RBI, and a .645 OPS across 583 career plate appearances in March and April. Conversely, he has 20 homers, 60 RBI, and a .816 OPS over 427 May plate appearances.

If Santander put up those numbers in 162 games, he’d end the year with a .261 average, 31 home runs, and 93 RBI. Those sound far more like the numbers you’d expect from a player who earned All-Star and Silver Slugger honors last season.

However, it still feels too early to use the term “total disaster.” Santander is adjusting to a new home and a new position; he’s played 21 of 33 games at designated hitter this year and is on pace to surpass his career-high 47 well before July 4.

Of course, Santander isn’t guaranteed to turn it around. The slow start could easily be a sign of things to come, which would be very, very bad news.

However, if Santander does find his power stroke again, the Blue Jays’ road back to the postseason in a strong American League doesn’t look as foreboding.

Concerns Mounting for Blue Jays Amid ‘Total Disaster’ Contract Worries

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