Cleveland Indians Sign Outfielder Domingo Santana
The Cleveland Indians have signed free-agent outfielder Domingo Santana. The contract is reportedly for North of one million dollars. Santana is 27 years old.
Santana On the Move
Domingo Santana will be joining his fifth organization in his seven-year career. Santana was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009. In 2011 Santana was traded to the Houston Astros as part of a package for Hunter Pence. The Astros dealt Santana in 2015 to the Milwaukee Brewers in a package for Carlos Gomez. The Brewers also received Josh Hader in that trade.
After the 2018 season, Santana once again was traded. The Seattle Mariners acquired Santana in exchange for Ben Gamel. In a shocking move, the Mariners non-tendered Santana making him a free agent.
Santana’s Career
After the 2017 season, Santana seemed destined for greatness. As a 24-year-old player, Santana hit 30 HR and drove in 85 runs. His slash line of .278/.371/.505 was impressive. The Brewers who were looking to win a World Series acquired star outfielders, Christian Yelich and Lorenzo Cain. This forced Santana to become a bench player.
In limited action, during the 2018 season, Santana played decently and was traded to the Mariners in the offseason. The Mariners gave Santana 500 at-bats and his slash line was .253/.329/.441 with 21 HR and 69 RBI. The Mariners are in a full rebuild mode and those numbers certainly are good for a team that was lacking in talent.
However, Santana had the highest strikeout percentage of any player in the majors at 32.3%. Additionally, Santana had 12 errors in the outfield. Those two stats coupled with the over four million dollars the Mariners were going to have to pay Santana was enough to release him.
Indians Outlook
The Indians have not made any moves to improve their roster. In fact, they traded away star pitcher Corey Kluber and have shopped star shortstop Francisco Lindor. It does appear the Indians are setting up for a quick rebuild but not a full rebuild.
Santana is young and does still have plenty of upside. This is a good low-risk move for the Indians. The talent is there. Santana’s problems do seem like they can be fixed. At 27 years old Santana is too young not to take a chance on.
