At least three teams — the Orioles, Rangers and an NL West club — have strong interest in Ervin Santana, ESPN Deportes' Enrique Rojas tweets. Rojas also notes that the Blue Jays could still be a possibility (although a recent report indicated the Blue Jays would not sign a free-agent starting pitcher). The identity of the NL West team is unclear, although the Rockies have been connected to Santana.
The Orioles have interest despite their recent signing of Ubaldo Jimenez. Santana would still upgrade their rotation, and with their first-round draft pick no longer a factor, there is less disincentive for them to sign a free agent like Santana who has a qualifying offer attached. The Orioles would only have to give up the No. 90 overall pick — their third-rounder — to sign Santana. The Rangers would have to sacrifice the No. 30 overall pick they are about to receive as compensation for Nelson Cruz signing with Baltimore.
surprised SEA isnt in there
I think the market will have to come down pretty far before Seattle gets in on Santana, who’s basically a league-average pitcher and is entering his decline phase. For the last spots in the rotation the M’s have two young pitchers in Ramirez and Maurer who are projected to provide similar value at little cost. They also have Scott Baker who could bounce back after Tommy John. It’s somewhat more of a gamble but the price for the extra certainty of signing a veteran is still too high.
Dude’s barely 31. There’s no reason he should be declining yet.
Well, most guys slowly decline in their early 30s. He has been above average in 3 of the past 4 years though so he’s not “league average”
That depends on the measure. By FIP he’s been right around the league average except 2012 when he was much worse. He got the walks down significantly last year and if he can sustain that improvement he’d probably be a bit above average. I can see why a team that had decent young starters might not see the marginal improvement to be worth 4/50 though. Capuano on a two year deal made sense. Santana for four doesn’t, to my mind.
You could’ve just his used career ERA+, which is exactly 100.
He’s had some good years but his inconsistency weighed his overall numbers down. He’ll still give 200 IP, and will be around 120 ERA+ if he has a good year. But if he has another bad year, he’ll be around 170 IP and an 80 ERA+.
Major wild card there without even having to dig deep.
You’re joking right?at 31 after posting the lowest ERA of his career he is in the decline phase of his career?He’s had 1 bad year in the last 5 or so years.If anything he appears to be like a lot of pitchers who hit their peak years while in their 30’s.
Santana probably isn’t much better than Erasmo.
I totally agree, and would like to run with E-Ramirez before dumping $10m+/yr on Santana’s inconsistencies!
Proven player is almost always better than unproven one, at least in short term.
I seriously doubt it’s the Rockies. A highly-home run prone pitcher + Coors Field = disaster.
He’s not that home run prone. That’s way overblown. He’s a bit above average in HR/9, but that’s almost all because of one awful year (2012). His ground ball numbers are actually quite good lately.
He’s also significantly improved his GB% rate from early in his career:
Career: 39.8%
2013: 46.2%
To be fair to Chris, he was HR machine in his final season in LAA with a 1.97 HR/9.
Look at his ballparks
Three times throughout his career Santana has posted a HR/9 rate north of 1.5, while only once has it been under 1.0 (0.95) and he’s pitched his entire career in pitcher friendly environments. I think it’s fair to say he can be susceptible to giving up the long ball.
The Orioles? Again? Why don’t they sign Morales and Drew too?
its the padres rox or dbacks obviously
Go for it Orioles.
Really hoping the Jays DON’T sign him.
O’s should sign Morales and Santana to 1 year deals with player options. Then they would be a serious contender.
Someone will beat that for Santana, easy. Cruz was a special case, and Santana is way more valuable.
Smart strategy if you’re the Orioles as it minimizes the draft cost of signing FAs while still significantly improving the team. A #90 pick isn’t really worth all that much anyway so it makes sense to go all in during one year than making 1-2 big signings each year and never getting top picks.
The NL West mystery team is Colorado Rockies.
Them or the Padres most likely
At least the Padres got Josh Johnson this offseason.
Yea, but he is a big injury risk
There’s no risk… He WILL get injured, it’s just a matter of how and when.
Padres have the 13th pick, which is almost the most valuable one subject to being lost. Plus they still have decent SP depth. I really doubt they’re in on him, although they might grab Jeff Niemann or Joe Saunders if they need someone.
I would not be the least bit surprised if it were the Padres. They are relying heavily on Johnson, who is very fragile, and guys like Kennedy, Ross and Cashner, who are inconsistent. Santana would slot in nicely in the middle of the rotation and allow them to use Eric Stults as a swing man, a role to which he is far better suited than starting 30 games.
Santana would give them some stability at a presumably low rate and frankly, if they really believe they can contend this season, why not punt the draft pick and show the fans you’re willing to invest in the team? It would earn some good will with the fans, prove they are serious about investing in the team, and, most importantly, it would help them win.
He would be an upgrade but the O’s would need to pull off a trade using a guy like Norris, Miguel Gonzalez, or Britton to make the roster crunch work. Tillman, Jimenez, and Chen are locks at this point. They can move Norris to the pen to be the closer and have Santana and Gonzo as 4/5 and trade Britton.
I’d say Gonzalez is pretty much a lock since his ERA and WHIP were both better than Chen. Could go with Norris as the closer.
El Meneo in Tejas? Somebody better check his HR/9 rate in that park. Yikes!
I did. It’s about league average. Slightly higher. It’s better than some of the Rangers current pitchers.
Not better than Holland or Harrison when healthy.
No, nor Yu. But he’d be a solid fifth guy in the rotation.
Once again,different thread, the park is not the same as it was. The hr barrage days ended when construction was done recently. A # 5 but at what cost is the real question? Those fighting for the fifth spot serve the pen better.
2.5 in Tejas is league average?
Oh, didn’t see “in that park”
I’m a jays fan, and I’m getting annoyed by AA. He says he’s going sigh one free agent then he back down like a wimp because the money is 5 mill over what he wants. We got the money sigh someone already
Go for it Texas! Sign him to a five year deal!!!
Signed an A’s fan.
That would make me sick.
What about Seattle? I’m sure they still have some interest
Not sure why this article was posted. The Rangers have already stated they are not interested and the O’s already signed Jimenez and Cruz and will not be in the mix. The mystery national team is the Rockies but no pitcher wants to go there. Looks like greed got the best of Santana and his agent Jay Alou. Starting at a 100 million was a very bad mistake!!!