Angels Pursued Anthony Santander On Shorter-Term Deal

The Angels showed interest in Anthony Santander on a potential three- or four-year deal, writes Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. It’s not clear precisely what they proposed, but it seems their reported interest in the outfielder was genuine enough to consider multi-year offers.

Santander ended up with the Blue Jays on a five-year pact. That was initially reported as a $92.5MM contract, though extreme deferrals dramatically cut the net present value. The MLB Players Association valued Santander’s deal with Toronto just below $68.6MM. He can opt out of that contract after three seasons, though the Jays could override that by preemptively exercising a 2030 club option.

It’s not known if Toronto was the only team willing to stretch to five years. Rosenthal reported last week that the Royals made a three-year offer that included an opt-out after the second season. That came with a $66MM guarantee on the surface, though it reportedly also included deferrals that would have dropped the NPV to some extent.

Assuming the Halos use Jorge Soler more or less as a full-time designated hitter, they’ve yet to do anything of note in the outfield. Late last season, they floated the idea of moving Mike Trout into a corner in an effort to keep him healthier. A free agent class led by Harrison Bader didn’t provide many options to step into center field. It has been similarly quiet on the trade front at the position. It looks like the Halos will stick with Trout in center for another season.

Taylor Ward was the subject of some trade speculation, but it seems he’ll return in left field. Santander would have been a major upgrade in right, where the Angels project to run it back with a Mickey Moniak/Jo Adell platoon. Neither one-time top prospect has been a consistent offensive threat in their major league careers. Angels right fielders hit .210/.287/.368 last season. Only the Royals got a lower on-base mark at the position, while their slugging percentage was fourth from the bottom.

At this stage of the offseason, the Angels are unlikely to find a significant outfield upgrade in free agency. There’d been some speculation that the Halos could make a push for Pete Alonso to play first base, allowing them to move Nolan Schanuel to the corner outfield. That’s theoretically still on the table as long as Alonso is unsigned, but it’d probably make for a very poor outfield defense. That’d also be true if the Angels signed Alonso as a designated hitter and put Soler back in right field.

If an outfield splash probably isn’t happening, the Santander pursuit suggests there could be money for a late-offseason move in another area. The Angels were the most active team within the opening weeks of the offseason. They acquired Soler, Kyle Hendricks, Travis d’Arnaud, Kevin Newman and Yusei Kikuchi before Thanksgiving. They haven’t made a single MLB free agent signing or trade of note since the Kikuchi pickup.

The Angels could still upgrade on the pitching staff. Rosenthal reported last week that the Halos were in contact with free agent relievers and could make multiple bullpen acquisitions. They could certainly accommodate someone like Nick Pivetta, Jose Quintana or Andrew Heaney in the rotation. RosterResource calculates their competitive balance tax number around $206MM, putting them about $35MM below next year’s luxury tax threshold.