Anthony Santander: 2023 year in review and 2024 forecast

[sportsfan8703]

It’ll be interesting to see Santa gets more respect/borderline calls this year. Just with us getting better and him being our vet MOO hitter. 

[sportsfan8703]

Santa would’ve hit 39 HR last year in NYY, ATL, PHI last year. 29 in OPACY. How would that affect what we think about him?

Edited February 13 by sportsfan8703

[Can_of_corn]

26 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Santa would’ve hit 39 HR last year in NYY, ATL, PHI last year. 29 in OPACY. How would that affect what we think about him?

Are they playing home games in one of those parks this year?

[sportsfan8703]

[Matt Bennett]

11 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

Great..so DH him more and push his value down more.  Awesome!  All the while taking away DH at bats from other guys.

The offense can get better with him gone.

You clearly don’t understand the value of bullpens right now or recognize our largest team need and what this team has a lot of coming.

His value? Why should I care exactly? He’s in the last year of his contract. If the O’s get better by DH’ing Santander and playing Cowser in RF more, the Orioles should care that we are limiting Santander’s deal in FA? I hope Santander earns what he deserves but squeezing every dollar out of his market isn’t that high on my list of priorities. Anthony should be and will be in the middle of our lineup as we are battling it out in October. What does it matter if his season long WAR is 2.5 instead of 3.0 by the time we get there? 

I don’t mind Santander DH’ing because he’s a good hitter. Cowser, Kjerstad, and Mayo would take away O’Hearn’s at-bats and Mounty’s at-bats against RHP before taking away Santander’s. I’d think chances are very low Santander is the one blocking offensive progress and the O’s offense gets better trading him away, considering he was our 3rd best hitter. There’s promise behind him, but remember that Cowser impressively racked up -0.8 WAR in 1 month, looking like nothing close to a major leaguer on either side of the ball. I want him to get another chance starting on the Opening Day roster, but Santander isn’t blocking him. 

The bullpen could be shaky. The O’s don’t get better trading away Santander for a bullpen piece. Just my opinion I guess, backed up my limitations on how much a reliever can contribute to the team. The Bluejays did not get better trading away Teoscar Hernandez for Erik Swanson. Hernandez regressed too and he was the better player over Santander heading into 2023. 

[wildbillhiccup]

2 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Santa would’ve hit 39 HR last year in NYY, ATL, PHI last year. 29 in OPACY. How would that affect what we think about him?

Jake Burger hit 34 home runs in 100 less ABs than Santander last season and I bet that 50% of the posters on this message board have never even heard of him. When are you all going to stop placing so much emphasis on a dying stat like HRs? It's not the 90s anymore! My point is it doesn't matter how many more HRs Santander would have hit in other parks because it's one of the easiest stats to replace. We're almost to the start of Spring Training and there are still multiple FAs available (Martinez, Soler) who can either match or exceed what Santander brings to the table.  That should tell you how much GMs dig/value the long ball. 

[wildbillhiccup]

18 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

Solid 2ish WAR guy whose value is overrated by the fan base. I consistently see people act like trading him would cause our offense to plummet and that he’s not replaceable. 
 

Been a fantastic rule 5 pick, that’s for sure.

If I can quantify this a bit more I think Santander is specifically overrated by the some of th older fan base who still think home runs are a rarity and and one of the most important offensive statisitics. Santander is a solid player, but the problem is the areas in which he contributes are arguably the easiest categories to replace. We could cut him today and sign Jorge Soler to a one year deal and not miss a beat offensively. Mediocre fielding home run hitters who don't steal bases, hit for average, or get on base with any regularity are a dime a dozen and very low on the value chart in the modern area of baseball.  

[ThisIsBirdland]

FYI Soler just signed with SF for 3/$42m.

[Aristotelian]

32 minutes ago, ThisIsBirdland said:

FYI Soler just signed with SF for 3/$42m.

Santander is also a switch hitter and better outfielder, beating Soler by 3.0 to 1.8 in WAR, and three years younger.

[forphase1]

33 minutes ago, ThisIsBirdland said:

FYI Soler just signed with SF for 3/$42m.

Yup.  And that's one reason why putting a QO of Santander would be risky.  He's likely to take it as I'm not sure he can land a big enough FA deal to offset getting paid $20+M for 1 year.  

[Satyr3206]

I don't agree that HR's are overrated. My reasoning is simple. Runs win games. HR's score runs.

You can get on base all you want, but if you don't score it doesn't help you win.

[Just Regular]

Now just need JD Martinez terms so Santander's agent can start preparing the sales pitches.

Teoscar - my guy's younger

Soler - my guy can field some

JD Martinez - both

Hays' overall value runs strongly with Santander as he's more of a well-rounded 2-way player, but Santander has the same edge on this group as Hays has on him.

Intrinsically it probably takes a Career Year to draw the QO, and practically some of how Kjerstad/Cowser do in 2024 might nudge it if it is close.

[wildbillhiccup]

11 minutes ago, Satyr3206 said:

I don't agree that HR's are overrated. My reasoning is simple. Runs win games. HR's score runs.

You can get on base all you want, but if you don't score it doesn't help you win.

They're overrated in the sense that almost everyone can hit them now. For context nearly 50 players hit more than 29 HRs in MLB last season and nearly 100 hit more than 20 HRs.  It's about supply an demand and it's pretty damn easy replace HRs in this era. That's why players who hit HRs AND who get on base are the modern day standard of what a pure power bat would be in the 90s. And Santander only checks one of those boxes. 

[wildbillhiccup]

16 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

Now just need JD Martinez terms so Santander's agent can start preparing the sales pitches.

Teoscar - my guy's younger

Soler - my guy can field some

JD Martinez - both

Hays' overall value runs strongly with Santander as he's more of a well-rounded 2-way player, but Santander has the same edge on this group as Hays has on him.

Intrinsically it probably takes a Career Year to draw the QO, and practically some of how Kjerstad/Cowser do in 2024 might nudge it if it is close.

Who is he preparing the sales pitch for? Because there's no world in which it makes sense for this team to offer / extend Santander to a long term deal. 

[wildbillhiccup]

57 minutes ago, ThisIsBirdland said:

FYI Soler just signed with SF for 3/$42m.

Pretty reasonable annual salary, but I'm amazed they gave him a three year deal. They would have been better off resigning Pederson or signing Renfroe.