12:38pm: Royals general manager Dayton Moore told reporters, including Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star, that he spoke with Alou today regarding Santana and said that there's still no fit with his club (Twitter link). However, Moore did tell the group that Alou is still representing Santana.
8:01am: Reports last night indicated that Ervin Santana has parted ways with agent Bean Stringfellow, however agent Jay Alou of Proformance (Stringfellow's agency) tweeted that Santana is "still represented by the same person that he fist signed with 15 years ago." This morning, FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal calls Santana's representation is "unsettled," adding that a split between the agents is possible, and the players union is involved in the situation (Twitter links). As Rosenthal adds in a third tweet, Alou is referring to himself in the above quote, which doesn't necessarily mean that Stringfellow is still in the picture.
Dionisio Soldevila of ESPN Deportes tweeted last night that Santana had fired Stringfellow and was contemplating negotiating his own deal. ESPN's Buster Olney tweeted shortly after that should Santana go that route, he needs to understand that teams are still very leery of his medical reports and concerned about his elbow. Olney points out that teams are nervous due to the fact that Santana threw more sliders than any pitcher in baseball last year.
Santana, however, pitched through a UCL injury for years without requiring Tommy John surgery, and this past October, esteemed surgeon doctor James Andrews stated, "[Santana] doesn’t need any further treatment for his right elbow partial UCL tear, as on (the) MRI today it appears that it has completely healed." (As reported by Rosenthal.) That, of course, doesn't mean that every team doctor will agree with the assessment, but Andrews' opinion would be considered among the most highly regarded in the industry.
Bean Stringfellow sounds like a character from a fairy tale.
One-time Braves pitching prospect, IIRC.
As mad as Santana probably is with his agent, this isn’t a good idea.
Switching agents can be a messy process, not to mention that any new agents would have to back peddle for at least a little while before any forward progress can be made. It’s possible that he’d sign before the start of the season, but then there’s the bigger issue of whether or not Santana still wants top dollar.
This is a circus that few teams are going to want to be involved with. I can’t see Santana getting a very good deal regardless of how long he wants to wait. Does he really think his 50 million dollar deal is waiting for him after the draft?
If Santana’s elbow is a troubling issue, then why do people insist the O’s are still in on him? As an O’s fan, I’m as tired as anyone about the “passing the physical” jokes, but the team looked at his medicals over a month ago and haven’t made any public overtures towards him since then.
I doubt anyone’s really concerned about the elbow. When you sign a guy, you get to do a complete physical and can evaluate it then. This is just posturing to lower his price.
Well Santana’s agent, B. Stringfellow, did make that 5/112 million prophetic statement last November. Maybe instead of MLB GM’s, it was Santana who started to believe he was worth a 9 figures haul.
If I were in Ervin’s shoes and my agent was struggling to achieve less than half of his initial hopes, then I would consider that a market misread and poor representation.
next week will be the week he signs but I am more betting on a 1 year deal. I see a 1 year 10 million deal and no more. this is like a poker game and he bluffed to long and lost.
O’s are one of the few teams willing to give up a draft pick (because it’s a 3rd rounder) for a one-year deal.
I wonder how many QO’s will be accepted next year, and will it limit the number of QO’s that are made. If Boston thought that Stephen Drew would have actually accepted the $14.1MM qualifying offer, do you think they would have made it?
Would love to have him back in KC for 2014. One more year of Erv & Shields would be a great bridge to Zimmer, Ventura and Duffy taking over next year and beyond.
There’s one flaw in your dream. Ervin Santana is good one year and really bad the next. He just had a good season last year so he’s due a bad one this year. Maybe give him a small amount guaranteed and make him earn the rest by having another good season.
No he’s not. He’s had one bad year, 2012.
2007 & 2009 he posted ERAs and FIPs north of 5, although those both look like injury shortened seasons based on his IP (150 & 139). Anyway, Santana does have a slight trend of following up an average or better season with a mediocre or terrible one. Case in point, only twice in his 9 year career has his HR/9 stayed relatively consistent from one season to the next (same thing with his ERA), so the perception that he is “due” for a bad season isn’t completely unfounded.
Is everyone else aware that he had a great defense behind him in KC and that helped his numbers? He’s far from an elite pitcher. He needs to stop acting like he is based off of one year(especially one that followed up a 5 era campaign)
But he was still an average pitcher with KC’s elite defense with an FIPjust below 4.
He’s not acting like an elite pitcher. He’s acting like a league average SP who’s still in his prime and has a history of health. He’s acting like any of the half dozen other league average-ish pitchers who got multi-year, 8 figure deals this off-season. In fact, he’s better than most of them.
There’s a large issue with top tier salaries driving up mid tier salaries. Kershaw being worth his deal does not necessarily equal Santana or others theoretically worth half that. The old saying goes that its not the price of stardom… but the price of mediocrity.
You really think ervin, is better than ubaldo, or garza? A league average pitcher in his prime, is still a league average pitcher. Ervin is about a 4 era pitcher, with solid control that’s going to give up his share of home runs. On a team that doesn’t limit base runners like the royals, there will be a solid amount of 2-3 run homers. I’d take garza over ervin any day. Ubaldo’s ceiling is way higher as well, proven by his performance for 4/5 of the season. a QO is meant to be a high $ amount for one year. Multi-year deals should have a lower AAV for the added financial security. He really shouldnt get much more than what Lohse got, despite being younger. I’d like to see what ervin’s superficial numbers would have looked like with clevelands defense behind him.
I love how he’s not a “fit” with the royals, like they have 5 starting pitchers that are aces??? Like Wade Davis is going to turn into a 3.00 pitcher this season….i guess that’s why KC won’t ever make that jump to being a contender
I love how he’s not a “fit” with the royals, like they have 5 starting pitchers that are aces??? Like Wade Davis is going to turn into a 3.00 pitcher this season….i guess that’s why KC won’t ever make that jump to being a contender
Moore says Santana isn’t a “fit”? As in he’s slightly better than the typical #5 starter they offer 4 year deals to?
He’s not a “fit” because the Royals are at their payroll limit, not because they can’t use him.
Partly because of I’ll advised contracts, and an owner that won’t spend the TV revenue
The fact the Royals and him can not find a middle ground is ridiculous.
I wish the O’s could try to give him a 1yr deal along the lines of Burnett and Kuroda and see if he’ll take it to build his stock value to get a better contract next season. O’s are probably the only ones willing to sign him at this point with that QO draft pick attacked, since we would only be giving up a 3rd rounder.