Top Landing Spots for Free Agent Anthony Santander

Switch-hitting outfielder Anthony Santander just finished putting together the epitome of a perfect walk year with the 2024 Baltimore Orioles. It often isn’t talked about enough just how important it is to put up excellent numbers before a trip to free agency.

If a player that’s about to hit the open market struggles with injuries or inconstancies, recency bias is going to play a role in their next contract, no matter how great of a player they are. In Santander’s case, the opposite happened. He had easily the best performance of his eight-year career and is now going to get paid for it.

Santander, 30, is a free agent for the first time since debuting back in 2017 and has a long list of suitors. It’s not difficult to see why that is. The first-time All-Star recorded 25 doubles in 2024 while hitting a career-high 44 home runs and driving in a career-high 102 runs.

His .506 SLG, .814 OPS and 134 OPS+ are all the best full-season marks of his career, too. The Silver Slugger emerged as a legitimately dangerous power threat this past season and the league has taken notice.

Among all primary outfielders in 2024, Santander finished second in home runs, third in RBI, fourth in SLG, sixth in runs scored and 11th in wRC+. He’s also got the third-most home runs in baseball dating back to 2022 (105). He’s been an under-the-radar slugger for years now and it seems that this winter, he’s finally going to get paid like one.

The one wrinkle in Santander’s status is that he declined a qualifying offer from the Orioles. Now, any team that signs him will need to surrender a draft pick to Baltimore in next year’s MLB Draft so they can be properly compensated for their loss. That makes Santander’s fit on a low-budget team an imperfect one.

Top Landing Spots for Anthony Santander

Detroit Tigers

The Tigers got plenty of production from their outfielders in 2024, but as a whole, the team finished 24th in baseball in home runs (162). The need for a big bopper in the middle of their lineup could not be more apparent.

Santander would give Detroit a power threat who can swing it from both sides, which is something the vast majority of their roster can’t say. Wenceel Perez is the only other switch-hitter on the 40-man roster and he doesn’t bring the same amount of thump in his stick that Santander does.

Santander’s ability to hit well against both right- and left-handed pitching would be a huge help to the Tigers. He sported a 132 wRC+ against RHP and a 123 wRC+ against LHP in 2024, while the Tigers were below league-average against both.

With Parker Meadows and Riley Greene both locking down spots in the outfield, Matt Vierling could bounce between the corner infield and outfield in 2025 with Kerry Carpenter getting time in the corner outfield as well as at designated hitter. The Tigers are a young and fun bunch that could truly be a power hitter or two away from a deeper playoff run come next season.

New York Mets

Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat: the Mets are only going to pursue Santander if they fail to land Juan Soto. They’ve got their sights set on the very top of the free-agent position player market, so Santander is going to be their “Plan B”, so to speak. The same can be said for multiple other teams that’ll follow the Metropolitans on this list.

As of right at this moment, the Mets have Jeff McNeil projected as their Opening Day designated hitter in 2025. Starling Marte, whose bat is trailing off as he ages, would be their right fielder. Need I say more?

Santander would be an immense upgrade over both of these players, especially when you factor in the fact that the Mets will likely have to replace Pete Alonso’s bat in their lineup.

Since Santander isn’t much of a fielder in the outfield, his fit on the Mets would be as their DH. A three-headed monster of Santander-Brandon Nimmo-Mark Vientos in the middle of their lineup, alongside leadoff hitter Francisco Lindor would make New York much bigger threats to dethrone the Phillies atop the NL East.

New York Yankees

Similarly to the Mets, if the Yankees don’t land Soto, Santander would be a great backup plan. We all know the Bronx Bombers have the financial flexibility to land basically any player they want, so if they’re outbid for Soto, they can throw the bank at Santander and would likely come out on top of those sweepstakes.

The Yankees are always going to be a team that wields more power than most others around the league. With Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton in the middle of their lineup, there’s going to be plenty of balls flying over the fence in 2025, but there’s a pretty clear need for more power.

Jazz Chisholm Jr., Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells all hit 12 or more home runs this past season, but the team’s power trails off in a pretty scary way once you get towards the lower-half of their projected 2025 starting lineup. The Mets may need to replace Alonso just like the Yankees may need to replace Soto, so Santander would be a solid bet – and a much cheaper one.

Toronto Blue Jays

No team disappointed more than the 2024 Blue Jays, and this offseason is Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro’s last shot at making a franchise-altering turnaround. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette are both going to hit the open market at the conclusion of the 2025 campaign and the team likely has one last shot at returning to contention with both superstars still in tow.

The Blue Jays, similarly to the Mets and Yankees, are one of the top teams chasing after Soto in free agency. If they are unable to come away with him, Santander would be the obvious power bat that they need in the middle of their lineup.

George Springer, Daulton Varsho and Guerrero are the current biggest power threats in Toronto’s lineup, but that isn’t exactly saying much. Springer is beginning to show his age while Varsho is a low OBP player who can hit home runs and steal bases, but his value lies mostly in his defense. There’s plenty of uncertainty in the power department for the Blue Jays moving forward.

It may not mean much, but there’s reason to believe Santander would benefit from staying in the AL East, as he posted an OPS north of .800 against both the Yankees and Red Sox in 2024.

Washington Nationals

It’s not perfectly clear how strong the 2025 Nationals are going to be, but they showed this past season that there’s some potential for a surprise run. While the club faded in the standings down the stretch, their young core showed a ton of promise out of the gates.

At the end of the year, though, they finished 29th in baseball with 135 home runs. That’s just two more than the last-place White Sox. Their 25th-place finish in runs scored underlines the fact that their offense simply didn’t do enough to keep them competitive.

This is where a power hitter at basically any position would help them tremendously. Christian Walker, Alonso and even Soto feel like fits. Santander can and should be added to that list.

Nationals executive Mike Rizzo has already vowed that his club would be actively looking for upgrades via free agency, and adding a power hitter needs to be at the top of their to-do list.

As things currently stand, all three spots in Washington’s outfield are spoken for in 2025, so Santander would be moved to DH or even first base, where he spent a small amount of time in 2023. If/when Alonso and Walker sign elsewhere, the Nationals could use some outside-the-box thinking and try Santander at first base. They could use hit bat regardless of where he plays.