Orioles $100 Million All-Star Predicted To Land With Royals In Blockbuster Signing
The Kansas City Royals are happy being Bobby Witt Jr.'s team. But they can't afford to continue being his team to such an extreme degree.
In 2024, Witt was the catalyst, engine, and afterburner for the Royals offense. Outside of a steady hand in Salvador Perez and some occasional thump from Vinnie Pasquantino, the rest of the lineup was a black hole, and the minute Witt went into any sort of slump, Kansas City stood no chance.
After making the playoffs on the back of Witt's heroics and their excellent starting pitching, the Royals know they need to level up their offense in 2025. They could do exactly that by signing one of the biggest power bats available in this winter's free-agent class.
Anthony Santander of the Baltimore Orioles is entering free agency after a career year, finishing second behind Aaron Judge in home runs in the American League. David Brown of Deadspin recently predicted that Santander would sign with the Royals on a five-year, $100 million contract.
"Switch-hitter who posted a .235/.308/.506 line with 44 homers in 2024, doing equally well from both sides," Brown said of Santander. "His career K% is better than league average by 2 percent. He played a lot of right field at age 29, but he was mediocre on defense."
Santander turned 30 this season, and already ranks as a well-below-average defender in right field despite his cannon arm. Kauffman Stadium is a tough place to play the outfield, but the Royals will happily trade a bit of defense for home run production--if they can afford to sign it.
Even though the Royals signed Witt to a $277 million extension last winter, $100 million is still quite a bit of money by their standards. In fact, it would rank as the second-largest contract they've ever dished out, surpassing Perez's four-year, $82 million extension.
If the Royals want to become consistent World Series contenders, spending big is the quickest way to solidify their odds. But ultimately, there's no way to convince an ownership group to increase their budget if they weren't already willing to do it themselves.
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Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living. A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey. He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "Kansas City Royals On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org