TORONTO — Anthony Santander was brought to Toronto to hit homers. Instead, 50 games into his time with the Blue Jays, the 30-year-old slugger has mainly hit roadblocks.
After a cold start to his Blue Jays tenure, Santander tweaked his hip in early May and injured his left shoulder in the same week. Both ailments followed the outfielder for the entire month before Toronto finally placed Santander on the injured list Friday with left shoulder inflammation. Santander became the Jays’ fifth offseason addition to hit the injured list.
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The IL stint is an opportunity for Santander to get right and come back as the slugger Toronto needs. But his temporary loss is another test for the Blue Jays’ depth.
After a 74-88 season, the Blue Jays made plenty of offseason moves looking for needed change. They signed veteran starter Max Scherzer, inked Santander, added Yimi García and Jeff Hoffman to a needy bullpen, and traded for Andrés Giménez, Nick Sandlin and Myles Straw. Two months into the 2025 campaign, Hoffman and Straw are the only major additions not on the injured list.
Those seven acquisitions have brought the Jays just 0.8 WAR, so far, per Baseball Reference. Despite missing Toronto’s last 20 games, Giménez is the leader of the offseason additions, at 0.9 bWAR. It’s almost impressive the Blue Jays find themselves sitting at .500 (28-28) entering Friday’s contest against the Athletics. Every team faces injuries, but not to nearly every player who recently joined the club.
Toronto’s lift has come, instead, from its depth. Nathan Lukes has been 21 percent better than the league-average hitter. Addison Barger has 13 extra-base hits in 35 games. Mason Fluharty and Braydon Fisher have admirably replaced García and Sandlin in the big-league bullpen.
“It says a lot about the guys that you didn’t really think you were going to get contributions from right out of the gate,” manager John Schneider said. “What they’re doing, whether that’s Fluharty or Nate Lukes, everyone’s kind of stepped up a little bit.”
The breakouts have been great, holding Toronto’s ship upright as it weathers the storm of injuries. But if the Blue Jays are going to find a path above .500, the ailing offseason acquisitions must return. And perform.
Scherzer threw another live bullpen on Friday as he nears rehab games, but his absence has put pressure on the rotation. The Blue Jays have used 10 pitchers to start games this year. Due to the scarcity of innings from Scherzer’s fifth rotation spot, Toronto shuffled the starting staff against the A’s. Another bullpen day or spot start has been added on Saturday to insulate the fifth spot with reliable starts from Chris Bassitt and Kevin Gausman.
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Santander’s battle with his hip and shoulder has impacted the lineup, too. Last year, the switch hitter bashed 44 homers for the Baltimore Orioles before signing a $92.5 million contract in Toronto. Right now, he’s on pace for just 17 — a pace that’ll only drop as his IL stint begins. Santander is a historically cold starter, but the shoulder and hip ailments robbed him of his annual May hot streak. In 2024, the Blue Jays ranked 26th in homers. They entered Friday’s contest sitting 23rd, on pace for nine fewer than last year.
Injuries happen and, in most cases, they’re entirely unpredictable. Eventually, Toronto’s offseason adds will return to the roster. Giménez is already on a rehab assignment, Sandlin and Scherzer are throwing regularly, and García should join them next week.
The Blue Jays’ depth has kept the team afloat as the offseason acquisitions leave the field. But, when the additions come back, it’s on them to bring the significant improvement Toronto sought in the winter. Until that happens, the test will continue to fall on the Blue Jays’ depth.
“You got to kind of hold the fort down,” Schneider said.
(Photo: Ron Jenkins / Getty Images)
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