Much like they did with Shohei Ohtani a year ago, the Toronto Blue Jays swung and missed on signing Japanese sensation Roki Sasaki, who ended up agreeing to a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Now, the Jays are trying to move on with a pair of All-Stars, Anthony Santander and Pete Alonso.

After another massive disappointment in failing to lure Sasaki to Toronto, the Jays are reportedly in talks with Santander, most recently of the Baltimore Orioles, and Mets star Alonso.

“Jays continuing to talk to Santander,” MLB insider Jon Heyman wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Making some progress but not done yet, and Jays have been disappointed before. Fresh off the Sasaki disappointment, also eying Alonso plus significant starters and relievers. [Shi Davidi and Ben Nicholson-Smith] on Santander.”

Santander, 30, earned the first All-Star and Silver Slugger honors of his career this past season. He batted .235 AVG / .308 OBP / .506 SLG / .814 OPS in 155 games. He accumulated 44 home runs and 102 RBIs, both career-highs in his eight seasons in MLB.

Alonso, 30, made his third straight All-Star appearance and fourth overall in 2024. While playing each of the Mets' 162 games, Alonso batted .240 AVG / .329 OBP / .459 SLG / .788 OPS and added 34 home runs and 88 RBIs. The numbers represented another dip in production, though, as his production peaked during the 2021 and 2022 seasons, his third and fourth in MLB, respectively.

Still, adding Santander and/or Alonso would seem to be intriguing considering Blue Jays could always use some extra offense to alleviate the pressure on Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Guerrero, who earned a fourth consecutive All-Star nod this past year, crushed the ball and earned a Silver Slugger after a season in which he averaged .323 at the plate and hit 30 home runs and 103 RBIs. If Toronto signed Alonso, a first baseman, Guerrero would also likely move back to third base, where he primarily played as a rookie in 2019.

Missing out on either or both players would certainly be a blow to, at the very least, the psyche of Blue Jays fans, who got their hopes up that Ohtani, one of the sport's best and most popular players, was signing with Toronto last offseason. Unfortunately, and despite an airplane headed to “the Six” seemingly carrying Ohtani, the Japanese superstar signed with the Dodgers. Sasaki, one of the most coveted Japanese prospects in recent history, similarly signed with the Dodgers after reportedly considering signing with the Jays.

After missing out on Ohtani and failing to attract any other big-name free agents, the Blue Jays finished the season dead-last in the AL East with a 74-88 record.