I think the projections on Santander are basically what should have been expected. His xwOBA the last three years: 0.319, 0.327, 0.265. And Steamer/ZiPS have him at 0.323. Translates to like 1-1.5 WAR for someone who's in decline athletically and is purely a DH. Like, the projections done by the computers also seem intuitively right to me.
Of course there's a path to him being a 2-3 WAR guy, but its like:
- significantly outperform his xwOBA like he did in 2023 and 2024 (his xwOBA and wOBA are identical for his career)
- stay healthy
- revert to where he was athletically in 2024 (baserunning and defense). But that was two years and a major injury ago
We all just watched Springer turn back time, so of course anything is possible. But I don't have a hard time buying Santander as an easily replaceable ~1.5 win corner OF if he's healthy, and I think a Sanchez/Schneider platoon covers that without any loss.