Kansas City Royals Reportedly Made Three-Year Offer to Anthony Santander

The now-former Baltimore Orioles slugger signed a five-year deal with the Toronto Blue Jays this offseason, but not before the Royals officially submitted a three-year bid.

Baltimore Orioles third baseman Gunnar Henderson (2) celebrates with right fielder Anthony Santander (25) after hitting a second inning home run against the Kansas City Royals at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

Now-former Baltimore Orioles slugger Anthony Santander signed a five-year deal with the Toronto Blue Jays earlier this offseason.

Signing for $92.5 million, he'll be expected to pair with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the middle of the Jays order and to help the club turn around a last-place finish from 2024.

However, Santander had other interested clubs, including the Kansas City Royals.

According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Royals made Santander a robust three-year offer.

The Kansas City Royals made Santander a three-year offer and increased it to $66 million, according to sources briefed on the talks. But by the time they presented Santander with their enhanced proposal, which included an opt-out after the second year and deferrals that were still being negotiated, he had committed to the Blue Jays.

Had Santander gone to Kansas City, he would have paired with Bobby Witt Jr., Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez to form a solid middle-of-the-order quartet.

The Royals finished second in the American League Central last season and advanced all the way to the ALDS before losing to the New York Yankees.

Speaking of the Yankees, we also heard that they had interest in Santander earlier this offseason, same with the Boston Red Sox, though we haven't heard of any official offers from those organizations.

The 30-year-old Santander is native of Venezuela and coming off an incredible year for Baltimore where he hit .235 with 44 homers and brought in 102. A lifetime .246 hitter, he helped Baltimore get to the playoffs in back-to-back seasons (2023 and 2024).

Santander has hit 28 homers or more in each of the last three seasons and has brought in at least 89 runs in each of those years also. Defensively, he's played in right field and that would represent a bit of an issue for Toronto, who already has George Springer out there.

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