According to Jeff Passan, the Pittsburgh Pirates are in agreement with first baseman Carlos Santana on a one-year deal, pending physical. The value is said to be $6.7M.
First baseman Carlos Santana and the Pittsburgh Pirates are in agreement on a one-year, $6.7 million contract, pending physical, sources familiar with the agreement tell ESPN. News, free and unlocked, at ESPN: https://t.co/Wm8Qoyin0S
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 26, 2022
Santana, who will turn 37 years old shortly after Opening Day, has spent 13 seasons in the majors, mostly with the Cleveland Indians. He started as a catcher. but he hasn’t caught since the 2014 season. He split 2022 between first base and DH. He is a career .242/.359/.432 hitter in 1,784 games, with 32.1 WAR to his credit. He was an All-Star and Silver Slugger winner in 2019, and he has received MVP votes in two seasons.
Santana had a .911 OPS in 158 games in 2019, when he had a career best 4.5 WAR. He has not approached that number since then, putting up a .699 OPS in 60 games during the shortened 2020 season. He had a .660 OPS in 158 games with the Kansas City Royals in 2021, and he split the 2022 season between the Royals and Seattle Mariners, posting a .202/.316/.376 slash line in 131 games. He has 2.1 WAR total over the last three season, and he has -0.9 dWAR during that time.
The Pirates have recently picked up first basemen Ji-Man Choi and Lewin Diaz. Both are left-handed hitters, while Santana is a right-handed hitter.
Jon Heyman has this tidbit of info, though some recent studies of the minor leagues under the new rules have shown that banning shifting hasn’t made much of a difference.
Carlos Santana agrees to $6.725M deal for 2023 with Pirates. Most shifted player as lefty batter last year could benefit from new rules.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 26, 2022
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
This move could be a winner if Bucs have a manager who will deploy Santana and Choi correctly.
I have zero confidence that the Bucs have that manager.
The manager can only deploy them correctly if the general manager gives them a strong everyday DH to allow for a Choi Santana platoon. Otherwise, one is at dh and the other is at 1b, every day
Generally speaking, the best hitters in baseball have the highest xwOBA. Although he seemingly underperformed over the last three, xwOBA in two of the last three years has been in line with his peak numbers. Quality of contact still seems to be above average and in line with his contemporaries.
For those not familiar (including me): Expected Weighted On-base Average (xwOBA) is formulated using exit velocity, launch angle and, on certain types of batted balls, Sprint Speed.
For context, Santana’s xwOBA is 7th for ALL 1B and 2nd for FA 1B. Regardless of fan opinion, outs will be much more productive from 1B/DH next year, and this should create an ancillary benefit to the lineup.
Not the worst move they could make. I just keep having the thought, they keep making moves designed to plug holes, instead of trying to get a high quality player to fill a spot. If you shop in the bottom tiers, that’s where you’ll always be.
Santana certainly makes sense. He fills several short-term needs: He’s a
fine defensive first baseman, a right-handed hitter with some power, a solid
veteran presence in the clubhouse, and he’s been signed to a sensible contract. Now, what roll do Diaz, Choi, and Andujar play? Is Santana meant to instruct these guys, who are competing? All these players are on the 40-man roster. The Pirates have gone from zero first baseman to three (excluding Andujar) without impacting the long-term, presumably contention-filled future. Why did the most consequential acquisition come last, causing a glut? And how does this reflect on Nunez, and Martin? I am thoroughly confused. At least fist base is being addressed with real first basemen
I hate “red circle good, blue circle bad” analysis but I mean… this guy is definitely better than his 2022 slash line
Red circle good
Is Nutting moving the team to Central America ?
What does this comment mean exactly?
There are actually no players on the 40-man roster from Central America.
So it has to be Lewin Diaz that gets DFA’d since there is no way you carry Santana, Choi, Diaz, and Andujar on the roster? Diaz is out of options and would have to stay on the 26 man roster or be jettisoned. Even if he makes it through waivers it makes for a pretty crowded 1b situation at Indy with Martin, Nunez, and Diaz.
An acoustical National Anthem will definitely be in order now.
thats funny
“…split the 2022 season between the Royals and Seattle Mariners, posting a .202/.316/.376 slash line in 131 games.”
For $6.5 million?
He hit .202 last year?
Seriously?
We have guys off the waiver wire with better numbers. Christ sake, I’m curious what Van Meter hit last year.
Are you really murdering our GM on social media over a .202 BA?
Q. Did you know Santana hits from both sides?
A. No you didn’t
Q. Do you understand how a platoon system works?
A. No it has nothing to do with army
Q. Do you know Choi’s numbers against LH pitching?
A. No you don’t
Q. Did you happen to check how Santana fared against LH’s?
A. Why would you when the .202 is melted into your brain
Q. Did you peek at his defensive numbers at all?
A. i know your response “who cares if he’s hitting .202”
Just check the numbers you will feel better about .202
And the trade chip factor
BA can be a very misleading stat
pls do homework next time before you trash the GM
No disrespect
Peace out
It’s weird how they seem ok with spending $12 million to address the position, but not on an actual good player. Is like against company policy to spend “so” much on one good player, but ok on multiple mediocre players.
It’s not that easy. The players have to want to come here too. Josh Bell was not coming back(he was Pirates fans whipping boy and got sh*t on when he was here). Bellinger was not coming here either.
Maybe Will Myers, maybe Luke Voit. Who else?? Dom Smith, Keston Hiura has played alittle 1B. Same with Jackson Profar. But again, they would have to want to sign and come here.
In order to get a player to Pittsburgh right now, it’s needs to be an older veteran, a reclamation project, or the Pirates have to majorly overpay in either AAV or term; which isn’t likely.
True true but they literally can’t risk 8 figures on one guy. Like investing, you gotta diversify your portfolio (if you’re a small market with a small owner)
I know about diversifying, but this not it, in many ways those two guys are the same player, and now you are taking up two roster spot to hopefully achieve that goal. Maybe I’m being short sighted and I appreciate your approach in explaining your point. Who knows maybe Choi now gets traded. I like Santana, more than Choi, I just don’t see the reason to have both.
last year Vogelbach worked and Yoshi did not
Good point, but that was around $3 million, if this team ran a payroll of 125 million, then who cares about $12 million! Would had rather seen that 6 million on a useful bullpen piece.
The question we all really want to know is how would Fleming and Mills rank in our system?
June 27, 2022: Traded by the Kansas City Royals with cash to the Seattle Mariners for William Fleming (minors) and Wyatt Mills.
Different anyway. Maybe, just maybe, this could signal Nutting’s willing to spend some money on players. This guy’s gonna be making as much as Reynolds so how about spending some of it to extend him and get a couple of pitchers while you’re at it.
I’m going to choose to be grateful for this move since it’s Thanksgiving weekend. Let’s all hope it works out for the best.
He should be an improvement offensively, on Chavis vs LHPs. But can he still play 1b?
BC actually might’ve moved the needle a tad with this move, lol. Or, he could be another Yoshi.
He absolutely can still play first. He’s still good.
And he can still hit LHP.
And he can mentor young Dominican players. He’s a real pro. I live in KC and had a very positive impression of him, but in 2022 he just couldn’t hit RHP.
All good to hear Roberto. Thx.
Big fan of Abraxas.
Caravanserai is very underrated.
I always liked that and Man With Outstretched Hand (Santana III). With a pre-Journey 17 year old Neal Schon on guitar as well on that album!
I can’t make this Song of the Day, because it won’t embed, but this version of “Black Magic Woman” with Alicia Keys is great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7vuDgf_vMU
Edit: Found one to embed
I’m singing some songs (in my head’ right now.
I like this move. In addition to being a good platoon partner to Choi or Diaz, he should be a mentor to our young DR players. Mackey made that point a few weeks ago and sold me on the idea, but I didn’t expect it to happen.
I totally agree. Roansy made the commnet that he wished the bucs would add veteran leadership — and this is exactly what Cherington has done with this signing and the pick-up from Tampa Bay.
Roansy was not the first guy that came to mind……but rather our SS needs it.
Hmmm I like spending $11 mil and it’s still November. Bob must have got that MLBPA summons to appear. We’ve added 2 MLB players……30 HR’s together (Chavis had 14). High OBA guys…..now DFA Diaz.
The problem here is that you are assuming they will platoon at 1B! That will not be the case, you are not paying Santana 6.7 to get 200 AB’s as the short side of the platoon. The 30 HR’s you mentioned will be the totals from our 1B AND dh and that is not acceptable production from 2 power hungry spots
I don’t hate it. The guys a leader and could be beneficial to the young guys. He still is an average hitter as well. Now go get Perez as catcher like we all know they are going to. Then sign Clevinger, Yarbrough and Strahm. I would not be displeased with that off-season but I’m pretty sure they won’t get any of those pitchers I mentioned.
Clevinger is off the board, went to CWS.
Saw that why about a 2 year deal with kluber he could be this teams Burnett? And maybe still a Yarbrough.
Perez is a hang nail away from being on IL for 2023
I agree but you know that’s what they’ll do. I’d try Gary Sanchez on a one year deal maybe he mashes and you can flip him at the deadline and ride with endy the rest of the way.
Choi and santana should both be above average on their half of the platoon and both have long experience in winning clubhouses. Cant decide if i actually dont mind this pairing for what we paid or if i just want some offseason moves to spice things up. Maybe its the wine…
The worst aspect of this signing is that it’s Matt Morris all over again. They have a fed-up fan base that accurately sees that they aren’t trying, their season ticket base is almost gone, their press coverage is overwhelmingly and deservedly negative, so they try to counter all that by getting a player fans have heard of. Never mind that it’s 50/50 at best whether he’ll hit .200. “We brought in Carlos Santana! He had a good year a generation ago! It could happen again!”
Matt Morris
2007 was a long time ago, after 15 years your forgetting this had nothing to do with fans hoping for a “do something, please anything”
. They were 42-62, energy of the city was focused on another Lombardi. This was a SPITE trade by DL knowing his days were numbered.
July 31st 2007
He took a Giants salary dump literally 1/3 of remaining 10M in 2007 and 2008’s 9.5M, HUGE money back trhan
S.F. picked up not a cent, we gave them Rajah Davis
Fired Sept 7, 2007
Can’t believe Littlefield lasted 37 days
Chris Archer
Deadline trade was the “lets please the chirping fans”
Won a bunch of games out of the break were still 6 back, 4th in DiV
with Brutal schedule,
PS odds were less 7%
Carlos Santana
Teach these kids what it takes to win
Mariners acquired CS on June 27th
34-41 56-31 after
90-72
His wRC+ was still slightly above average. Which is a major improvement for the Pirates at 1B and DH. B/ween him and Choi 1B/DH should be a lot better.
Although, imo, no veteran should be taking AB/PT away from the players or prospects the Pirates have at the major league or AAA level; just yet.
And signing a UFA isn’t just as easy as, pay him the same amount he got from another team. The player has to want to sign and play here. Josh Bell wasn’t coming back. Cody Bellinger was not signing to play here either.
In order to get a player to Pittsburgh right now, it’s needs to be an older veteran, a reclamation project, or the Pirates have to majorly overpay in either AAV or term; which isn’t likely.
I’m sure this is all music to Bob’s ears. The poor little Pirates can’t have good players, so they have to settle for whatever is at the bargain consignment shop. This is the mindset that’s fueled the last 30 years of Pirate baseball.
It’s a neat strategy, though. Assemble literally one of the 5-6 worst 1B clown shows in MLB history, then no matter what you do, it’s an upgrade! So much winning! You’ll get tired of the winning!
You think Josh Bell would sign and come back here? Lol. Or Cody Bellinger would sign here? On a team that has lost 100 games two years in a row? Or Bellinger come to Pgh after playing his whole career in LA? Lol.
And It’s not just the Pirates. Many MLB teams have to build from the draft and make sure they sign their homegrown players. Like Cleveland and Jose Rameriez.
It’s hard to convince any player to sign and play on a perennial loser. Getting veterans or reclamation projects via free agency is mainly their only option.
Will Meyers, Luke Voit are probably gonna get multi year deals. Keston Hiura played some 1B and same with Jackson Profar but are either that much better? And again, they likely get multi year deals.
Santana and Choi are stop gaps that can be flipped at the deadline. I doubt, even the Pirates, see them as long term solutions at 1B.
It’s not the losses that keep FAs away from Pittsburgh. Russell Martin signed. It’s the overwhelming evidence that they’re not trying to win. Nobody wants to play for the Washington Generals. The solution is to stop being the Washington Generals.
And who cares whether they can flip these guys? We’ve already had three years of replacement and sub-replacement placeholders. If a player’s chief virtue is that you can dump him in July, why not shorten the process by 6-7 months and don’t acquire him?
The loses is what keeps UFA’s from signing. Russel Martin signed on a team that was coming off .500 season. With pieces like Cutch, Pedro Alverez, Neil Walker, Marte, Josh Harrison, AJ Burnett, C.Morton, G.Cole already in place.
I don’t think anyone has the expectations that Pirates are gonna win a WS next season. Expectations should be a winning team(.500 or better); just like Baltimore this past season. Then players will be more inclined to sign and play in Pittsburgh.
Like I said, Santana signed a 1 year deal as a stop gap. A position the Pirates needed to fill at the ML level.
No veteran should be taking AB/PT away from the players or prospects the Pirates have at the major league or AAA level; just yet. Except at 1B. And on a one year deal preferably(like they did).
Very few teams are able to make huge UFA signings; in a sport with no salary cap. NY, LA, Boston, Chicago will always live on the Free Agent market. Most teams are lucky to make one(1) to three(3) free agent signings a year.
It’s more important to draft well, develop, sign and retain your homegrown talent.
Funny you should mention the O’s. They signed Jordan Lyles after a 110-loss season. He won 12 games for them, more than twice as many as any Pirate starter. Any team can do better than a 37-yr-old who’s sucked for 3 years, if they try.
And washed-up veterans taking playing time from ML-ready prospects has been the Pirates’ MO. VanMeter, Allen, Marisnick, Yoshi . . . they’re this FO’s idea of ML players.
The fact that Jordan Lyles hit and VanMeter, Allen, Marisnick didn’t doesnt persuade me.
And as I remember every Pirates fan was clambering for Yoshi to be resigned last offseason(along with writers on this site). If they didn’t resign him, there would have been a riot.
Unless Santana finds that ole magic I guess at the break in 2023 we’ll be saying there’s $3.6 million reasons why they don’t let him go. I hope he and Choi have great first halves but the chances of that seem unlikely.
Pretty sure the two situations aren’t that similar. Santana surely isn’t anything special, but he was worth a win last year and they signed him for less than market. Morris was clearly washed from the moment they got him and made more money in 2007 than Santana did 15 years later and for 1.5 more seasons when acquired.
Morris was worth 1.9 fWAR in the 2/3 of a season before the Pirates traded for him, so I don’t see the distinction. If anything, there was more reason, not less, to expect Morris to be useful. In fact, he earned 0.6 fWAR in his first two months with the Pirates.
I don’t see the parallels at all. Santana fits the mold of Spanish speaking vet with playoff experience that many were clamoring for, and not the casual fan at that. Read Mackey’s article and look at his savant page. Santana has a good chance to be much, much better than his 2022 numbers and even if he isn’t, 6.7 million is nothing. We need to stop letting Nutting’s cheapness cloud our view of salaries. This is a no risk signing at that price.
His 2022 season wasn’t exactly an “off-year.” He was even worse in 2021 and 2020. He’ll be 38 next year, he’s in a three-year slide, but he’s somehow a safe bet for a huge comeback? Uh . . . seriously? There’s some really intense fantasizing going on with this guy.
And Rod Barajas was a Spanish-speaking vet with playoff experience. How’d that go?
It’s not the paying $6.7 million for Santana that’s so bad, it’s the bringing in a player as mediocre as Santana that makes this a bad move. That’s a waiver wire pickup that they give real money to.
I don’t think that many waiver wire pickups had a 134 wRC+ as a RHB or an OBP of 387. If you find one please let me and BC know.
I am sure you know that he was one of the players most hurt by shifts, so it sounds like a good gamble to me.
is next season when they’re supposed to stop using the shifts?
Yes
Yuck! That’s the word that came to mind at this signing. I always hope to be wrong but this smells like a washed up veteran deal that will have us all wondering why there isn’t a better, younger option getting playing time. There might have been Rule 5 eligible options with as much upside (Nunez anyone?).
And I say that as one who wants the team to spend money on the roster. One can only hope (and this isn’t hope based on statistical probability) that a 37 year old who hasn’t been good for three years can have positive value. Of course it also shows how miserable MLB hitting was last year that his numbers suggest a league average offensive output.
I think you buried the lead. “A 37 year old who hasn’t been good for three years” is the real story.
Love a santana choi platoon. Hope they sign a real dh and address pitching. Things could get interesting
Meh, to fat guys at first base, DH ,same as last year but double the money. I think you could spend 11 million more wisely.
Couldn’t agree more, this is a casual fan appeasing move. The last one was the Archer Trade & will probably be just as bad
“…and probably be just as bad…” ?!?!
No shot signing a guy to a 7 million dollar deal is being compared to trading glasnow, meadows, and baz?
It’s the hot stove league, so you’ll see absurd overreactions like the one above. Goes with the territory.
wasn´t Choi also heavily shifted last year as well?
Yeah, and his BABIP was a career high .320, so it’s awfully hard to make a case that the shifts cost him anything.
Step 1 – Collect all of the sub-replacement level 1b
Step 2 – ?
Step 3 – Profit
If you want to see proof of how much veteran presence he brings with him, check out the cameos in this highlight reel. Dude played against Giambi. https://youtu.be/dzQ-i5oCyno
Just when I thought this GM couldn’t possibly make anymore head scratching moves, he proves me wrong again. We have plenty of young players that were blocked by dumpster dive useless players the last couple of years. Now we are paying premiums for players to block them. My God is he horrible. We fired Huntington for this clown?
What 1st base prospect do we have that he is blocking? We have none.
6.7 million for a guy with an OPS under 700? Seriously?
.387 ops versus lefties
.387 OBP, .789 OPS
ty
Ok waiting for Jose Abreu, Josh Bell and any other 1b/DH available. Is this a pattern? We didn’t have catching depth and he acquired 4, in one year. 3 that had to find playing time else where since they were on the same team, now this. A bit odd.
For actual MLB teams, $6.7M for a RHH platoon guy isn’t a big spend. But for our Bucs, it’s a lot for a guy that will start 1-2 times per week and PH a couple more. Let’s hope he’s a good influence on some of the young players.
We also have a 40-man move coming. Let’s see if it’s some of the AAAA chaff or a young guy.
I had high hopes for 27 year old Miguel Andujar going into next season but signing the 37 year old who hasn’t had an OPS+ over 100 in the past 3 years makes an Andujar breakout way less likely.
Andujar can also play left field.
And I bet he could learn right pretty quickly. Different spins and different park quirks, but those can be mastered pretty quickly. He’s got a strong arm and Suwinski is bad against LHP.
Very true. It doesn’t make sense with Andujar on the roster who’s heading into his peak years without a position. They can’t carry four guys for 1B and DH.
Do the Pirates get extra revenue sharing money for serving as a halfway house for washed up players? Why not combine what Choi and Santana are going to cost and try to find a major league player?
Not bad
A switch-hitter with on-base skills
Looking forward to the music choice tomorrow
Hey now
All you sinners
Put your lights on
Put your lights on
That song and What It’s Like were beat like Mike Lange’s rented mule. Can dig it now but 20+ years ago it was on the same level as All I Want for Christmas is for the next month in my book.
These are facts. I just got to the point where I could listen to Everlast again.
Some young dude that looks like a chubby Rob Thomas stocks fruit at the Publix by my farm. I’m pulling for Smooth.
Don’t understand this move! Since 2019 he has really been a disaster- struggling to keep a BA over .200. Put this money towards pitching. This move basically makes Andujar a bench piece unless you plan on him playing OF every day? Waste of $7 million IMO!
My son and I have a bet on Santana or Sano. I had Santana. When we signed Choi I knew it would be one of them. Sano will be a few million more though, so Nutting’s probably said no.
The Nutting’s hate is appropriate, and I don’t defend him one bit, but we like to forget he has signed players before when we start to hit a window where we might be good and there is no reason to think he won’t again. This year and next we will add a few more like this.
Despite the sheer exhaustion from the years where he ignores the team, we have to expect at least a little bit of help or there is no point.
He clearly started paying more attention to the team in the fall of 2019. Ask NH. I think he will remain a hands-off owner, as he’s no expert in operating a sports team.
pee u
I thought a Bertram who knows how to win was the ask? Santana has playoff experience and MVP votes in his past.
Santana is a good player. Mashes lefties. With Choi, we will have a platoon at first in the top 10 in 1st base WAR.
Santana does not mash lefties. His OPS against them was 43 points above average for a first baseman in 2022, 74 points below average in 2021, and 24 points below average in 2020.
And let’s not forget this is a Dumbo-managed team. He’s not going to sit a veteran like Santana every day, or even most days, against RHPs. Even apart from veteranosity, he’ll be the third-highest player on the team and they’ll be desperate to unload a chunk of his contract in July. Polanco had to play regularly. Yoshi had to play regularly. Santana will have to play regularly.
That’s a sad and ugly thought
I did this to myself all throughout the Huntington Era.
Gaby Sanchez where have you gone!
I see Choi and Santana being in the lineup everyday. You are not paying 7 million for the short side of a platoon. To me this move says Choi is your everyday 1b with Santana as your DH. Batting average hovering around .195 the last couple years with diminishing power. This trend most likely doesn’t turn around as a 37 year old. Just don’t think this is the best use of limited resources
Yes that would be my only objection to this move: if Santana’s salary dictates 500abs instead of primarily platoon oriented 250/300 abs
A Choi/Santana platoon that doesn’t take away from an extended look at Andujar is positive
I think they platoon at 1B, with Santana possibly DHing against righties. I think batting Choi against lefties is slightly worse than Santana against righties.
He may have a stretch where he hits about 215. And man what a good feeling that will be. Hope it’s at the trade deadline.
.789 ops vs. lefties last year
He was the most shifted player in all of baseball last year. Every single left handed at bat and almost every right handed one.
Whiners are going to whine about every pirate move.
I believe this move, Combined with Choi and lewin Diaz, has possibilities.
Carlos will get on base and he still hits the ball very hard. With no shift he could easily get back to his career average of .245. Or better. With his 97th percentile walk rate that could be a .400 OBP. When was the last time a pirate sniffed that OBP over a full season.
And I do not believe he will start against tough lefties. No matter what he is paid. Even for Nutting 6.7 million is not enough money to take the decision out of the managers hands.
That said, he has not been useless against lefties his whole career. He has had .800 and even over .900 OPS against lefties before. Over full seasons. The shift could be part of that.
Be negative about every single move if you like, but first base is the one position where no one is blocked. No one. Nunez isn’t ready. Cal Mitchell doesn’t play the position. Gorski, maybe, but not first half of the season. You want to see mason martin? Gimme a break.
Choi/Santana/Diaz for about $11 million total is actually an interesting mix of experience and upside.
Diaz has been awful in MLB but actually has 39 home runs in the minors his past two full seasons there. And his defense is unanimously plus.
I will give BC the benefit of the doubt on these moves.
But whiners will whine.
You don’t get out of the basement buying basement players.
I live in KC and got to watch Carlos a lot. I think you nailed it. The shift rule might help him considerably. If it doesn’t, it’s just a year and it’s not my money.