Toronto Blue Jays slugger Anthony Santander apologized on Friday for some anti-Muslim sentiment that he shared on social media last week following the United States political elections.

The Blue Jays put out a statement shortly after the situation gained traction and team president Mark Shapiro put out a statement on Thursday condemning Islamaphobia and all forms of hate.

Santander had remained silent for more than a week, but he shared a lengthy statement on his Instagram page. You can read it below, courtesy of Keegan Matheson of MLB.com:

1) Well, for starters: The Blue Jays need to live up to their own statements. They've said that baseball is for everyone and they want to continue working with leaders in Muslim communities to fight against hate. They met with Muslim leaders within the last week, and while a meeting is a good start, the work cannot stop there. They have to continue to be advocates and a bridge between communities. 

2) As for Santander, he also needs to put his words into practice. And he has an organizational role model for that in Kevin Pillar.

In 2017, the Blue Jays suspended Pillar for two games for using a homophobic slur on the field. Pillar then went onto do a lot of work in understanding the LGBTQ community, and he became an advocate and an ally. He is back in the fold for the team as a part-time broadcaster now. So, there is a way back from this for Santander, provided he's genuine and backs up his statement.

That feels unlikely. Toronto paid Santander $92.5 million before the 2025 season and he still has three years and more than $50 million guaranteed remaining. It stands to reason that the Jays would like to get a return on that investment after two essentially lost seasons. He was signed to help anchor the middle of the order with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and he figures to get a chance to do that in 2027.

The Jays are going to get a meeting with free agent left-hander Tarik Skubal. The New York Mets are reportedly the leader in the clubhouse to sign him, but the Jays are always a threat on high-value free agents. We took a deeper look at the situation here.