Among the many storylines from this Blue Jays season, one of them is how well the team has played with several of their offseason acquisitions fighting injuries. Max Scherzer missed almost three months of the season nursing a lingering thumb injury, Nick Sandlin has had to tackle a lat injury and is now sidelined with an elbow injury, Andrés Giménez suffered quad and ankle injuries, and Anthony Santander has been on the shelf with a shoulder injury since late May. 

With all that being said, though, the Blue Jays are playing meaningful games in September, and a division crown is there for the taking.

That storyline might not be as prominent now as Giménez and Scherzer are well back in the swing of things, but the same can’t be said for Santander, who still has not played in a major league game since May 29th. That might change soon, however, as Santander could potentially start a rehab assignment this week, according to MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson.

Santander has logged just 50 games this season, slashing .179/.273/.304 with a .577 OPS, six home runs, 18 RBIs, and five doubles. Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins told the media during Santander’s absence that the 30-year-old actually suffered a shoulder subluxation after running into the outfield wall during a three-game set in Anaheim against the Angels in early May. After a few weeks of trying to play through it, Santander hit the IL.

As Matheson’s above post mentions, the 1 x All-Star and Silver Slugger award winner last year has a chance to aid Toronto’s playoff push.

As obvious as it may sound, if the Blue Jays are going to ultimately activate Santander, he has to be ready to hit the ground running once he puts that Blue Jays blue back on. So much has been made of his tendency to be a slow starter throughout his tenure in Baltimore, and the same happened this season. Unfortunately, he wasn’t in a position to bounce back from that slow start due to his injury, and his season slash line to this point pretty much represents the totality of the slow start.

Is it a fair ask to get him to put those woes behind him so quickly? Maybe. Maybe not. The only answer to that is that October is getting here sooner rather than later, and the division race got a lot tighter this past weekend. Surely the Blue Jays wouldn’t put Santander in a position in which he or his shoulder isn’t ready yet, and they’re doing the right thing by giving him a shot to contribute.

Furthermore, at least from the outsider’s perspective and from a few John Schneider interviews, communication between staff and players is a big deal to this team. It’s something they undoubtedly needed while managing their starting rotation in recent weeks.

Again, it’s an obvious sentiment, but it still needs to be said. If he’s in the lineup, he’s got to be ready to roll.

If and when he is ready for activation, Santander absolutely has a spot on this team. He’s got the ability to blow a game open or get them back into it with one swing of the bat. Even with the small sample size from earlier this season, he’s put it on display for Blue Jays fans twice. During an April 15th tilt against the Braves, Santander crushed a three-run homer off of Spencer Schwellenbach to push Toronto’s lead from 3-1 to 6-1. A couple of weeks after that, a three-run homer in the bottom of the 7th inning against the Red Sox would tie the game for the Blue Jays, and cap off a comeback from a six-run deficit.

Those are the moments for which the Blue Jays inked him to a five-year, $92.5 million contract last winter. He can change the game with one swing of the bat, and now that games mean more than ever, the Blue Jays should be welcoming that ability with open arms.

Santander’s activation, if he’s ready, will cause yet another tough roster decision for the Blue Jays to make, something they have been accustomed to having to do this year. While it’s a good problem to have and those things seem to always work themselves out, it’s a hard thing to do for a first-place team that has so many contributors.

One particular thing that the Blue Jays won’t want to mess with too much is George Springer’s time at DH, something that has been a key to his overwhelming success this season. Santander’s defensive positioning is almost similar to Springer’s (corner outfield and DH), so Schneider has already mentioned that those two will be splitting time at those two positions if the time comes.

The Blue Jays have found a sufficient one through six in their batting order with Springer, Addison Barger (or Davis Schneider versus a lefty), Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Daulton Varsho, and Alejandro Kirk, so Santander would slot nicely in the seven spot to start. The results of his at-bats might change that idea, but before his injury, the Blue Jays already had him batting as low as sixth for a handful of games.

Since he’s a switch-hitter, Santander gives the Blue Jays an option regardless of who they are facing on the mound. Even if he doesn’t start a game, there’s value in him being a pinch-hit option late in games as well; he hasn’t done it much in his career, but Santander is 6-for-24 as a sub for his career.

Sure, there’s a lot of “ifs” and tentative plans, but this should be seen through a positive lens for the Blue Jays. Glass half full, Santander is healthy and ready to put baseballs into the seats for a team who has already taken massive offensive strides from last year into this year. Glass half empty, he isn’t ready, but the team can still get him healthy this offseason and ready to go for next year.

If the glass is half full, though, Santander definitely has a spot in this lineup.