TORONTO -- Speaking for the first time this offseason, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins fielded questions on Anthony Santander, who made headlines last week after sharing posts discriminatory towards Muslims on his Instagram stories.
Atkins is in Las Vegas, where the annual GM Meetings are taking place at the Aria Resort and Casino, and while this typically represents the early days of excitement on the free-agent and trade markets for most clubs, Santander’s posts have been the biggest story around this organization for the past week.
“There really aren't words to express my level of disappointment with him making those comments,” Atkins said. “I've expressed that to him. I think anything exasperating some level of anti-Islamic hate is just extremely concerning, extremely disappointing. I also talked to Anthony about his lack of awareness.”
Multiple times, Atkins reiterated that he and the Blue Jays would work with Santander to learn from this, but he also continued to make his frustration clear.
This is the first public comment we’ve heard from a member of the Blue Jays’ organization since Santander shared those posts last week following the midterm elections in the United States.
"Baseball is for everyone,” the club said in its initial statement, “and the Blue Jays have created an inclusive experience where all fans feel welcome at our ballpark. Individual comments do not reflect our organization's values and beliefs.”
Santander eventually deleted those posts, but Atkins has also spoken to the 32-year-old about making a public statement on the matter.
“I told him that I thought he needed to and that he should,” Atkins said.
Santander’s posts have received widespread attention in Canada, and particularly in Toronto. According to the most recent Canadian census, approximately 10% of Toronto’s population identifies as Muslim. The Blue Jays have worked to make the diversity of Toronto -- and more broadly, of Canada -- one of the organization’s core ideals. Inside the collar of the Blue Jays’ “Night Mode” City Connect uniforms, it reads “Diversity is Our Strength,” which comes from Toronto’s coat of arms.
While Atkins eventually addressed the Blue Jays’ other work at this week’s GM Meetings, he made a point of keeping Santander as its own, clear topic, not bleeding it over into the baseball side of this week just yet. Santander’s first two seasons with the Blue Jays since signing a five-year, $92.5 million deal have been a disappointment already, as he's appeared in just 54 games around shoulder injuries with a .565 OPS.
“It’s so disappointing that I don’t even think of it in that context,” Atkins said. “It’s disappointing enough that I don’t need to think of it in the context of trying to build a baseball team. It’s much bigger than that.”