5 free agent outfielders the Guardians should target

4. Anthony Santander - Baltimore Orioles

This is a name that has been floating around for quite some time as someone many would like to see return to Cleveland, but the Guardians should absolutely take that advice and look to bring back Anthony Santander.

Santander was briefly in the organization until being selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 2016 Rule 5 Draft. Since then, Santander has been a staple in the Orioles lineup, compiling 155 doubles and 155 home runs while slashing .246/.307/.469 over eight seasons. Like the previously mentioned Teoscar Hernandez, Santander also has a 34 home run and 34 double 162-game average, but this is over the course of his career instead of the last five seasons.

This past season, Santander did see his batting average drop to .235, but he also had career-highs in slugging (.508) and OPS (.814) in a non-shortened season (Santander's slugging percentage and OPS were at .575 and .890 in 2020), in addition to a career-high 44 home runs.

Now that Santander is a free agent and is coming off the best non-abbreviated season of his career, he is someone who will be in demand on the free agent market. Obviously, Baltimore will try their best to keep him, but they may have to prioritize spending and retaining the young core players on their roster, and that could impact whether Santander ends up. Cleveland can and should be willing to go above and beyond their normal spending habits to add a bat into their lineup that would make an instant impact that can hopefully result in bringing the sport's longest active championship drought to an end.