Anthony Santander's contract with the Blue Jays just landed on a brutal list.

The New York Times named his five-year, $92.5 million deal one of the five worst contracts in Major League history.

He's in genuinely rough company. The list also includes Kris Bryant's seven-year, $182 million deal with the Rockies, and Anthony Rendon's seven-year, $245 million contract with the Angels.

Rounding out the group are Nick Castellanos on his five-year, $100 million deal with the Phillies, and Javier Baez on his six-year, $140 million contract with the Tigers.

Every name on that list shares a common thread. A team paid significant money for proven production, and injuries, decline, or both prevented that production from ever showing up consistently.

Why Santander's inclusion is hard to argue with

Santander hasn't played a single game for Toronto this season, sidelined the entire year following left shoulder surgery. He also missed most of last season with an injury to that same shoulder.

In his limited action last year, he hit .175 with a .565 OPS and six home runs, numbers nowhere close to what Toronto expected when it signed a proven power hitter off a 44-homer, Silver Slugger campaign in 2024.

Two years into a five-year commitment, the Blue Jays have gotten almost nothing on the field to show for it.

That's exactly the pattern that puts a contract on a list like this one, a real financial commitment that never had the chance to pay off due to persistent, recurring injury.

Whether Santander can still contribute meaningfully in the final years of this deal remains a genuine question heading into next season, especially given how much of his tenure has already been lost.

For now, Toronto's front office has to reckon with this deal both as a financial commitment for years to come and as a very public example of how a signing can go wrong for reasons largely outside anyone's control.