At the All-Star break, the Rangers sat on the brink of playoff contention, looking like a team that could be a surprise bet to conservatively buy at the trade deadline. However, any hopes of contention look to be quickly vanishing, and the front office may not have to debate whether to buy or sell. Sunday’s loss makes it seven straight games that the Rangers have dropped, leaving the club just a game over .500 and now in fourth place in the division.
Should the Rangers elect to trade off veteran pieces and regroup in hopes of building a future contender, utilityman Danny Santana may be among the most coveted Rangers on the market. Per J.P. Morosi of MLB Network, the 28-year-old has garnered interest from several teams around baseball and could fetch a nice return for Texas. Though no specific teams are named, it seems reasonable to assume that most every team in playoff position would welcome a versatile offensive weapon. As Morosi notes, that interest may be heightened in light of the Royals’ steep asking price for Whit Merrifield, who would be the most attractive utility player on the market if the Kansas City weren’t so reluctant to let him go.
Santana, for his part, emerged as one of a number of minor-league signings fueling the Rangers’ surprise first-half performance. Formerly of the Twins and Braves, Santana appeared to have peaked as a rookie, when he posted a .824 OPS as a 23-year-old. After that, Santana’s OPS never climbed above .606 in a single season—until now, with an evolving approach leading to an offensive breakout. After posting below-average exit velocity numbers in his first years in the Majors, balls have left Santana’s bat at an average of 91.1 mph this season, a mark that ranks in the 83rd percentile, per Baseball Savant. Not only is he hitting the ball harder, but he is elevating it, leading to a career-high 13 home runs and a .250 ISO. With average launch angles of 3.4˚ in 2017 and 9.1˚ last season, that number has jumped to 12.3˚ this season. He likewise ranks favorably in hard-hit rate and expected batting metrics, indicating that his current performance cannot be easily dismissed as a fluke.
To be sure, though, Santana has outperformed those expected batting marks to some degree: his actual wOBA (.381) is nearly 40 points higher than expected (.342) and the same can be said for his batting average (.320 actual versus .282 expected), perhaps in large part thanks to an astronomical .399 BABIP. In that respect, then, teams may be hesitant to pencil Santana in to match his first half production. Those who inquire on Santana are essentially looking at a half-season’s worth of production, making Santana a more risky investment than players with long track records of success. That may depress his value somewhat, but Rangers general manager Jon Daniels should still be able to get a solid return, especially considering that Santana received virtually no attention when he signed in Texas.
However, those expected marks are still more than enough to attract some interest from contending clubs. Santana’s ability to play across the diamond might lower the offensive bar somewhat; teams in the hunt for a World Series won’t acquire Santana with the expectation that he plays every day at one position—rather, he might be deployed a la Chris Taylor or Marwin Gonzalez, hunting favorable matchups and spelling injured or resting regulars.
Santana has appeared at six different positions for the Rangers this season, providing passable (if unspectacular) defense. If defensive metrics like DRS and UZR are to be believed, Santana fits best as a middle infielder, largely grading out below average in the outfield. However, that doesn’t mean that he can’t provide value as an outfielder—giving his manager another option is valuable in and of itself, and Santana doesn’t have to play any one position exceptionally as long as he can play several capably. He’s also stolen 12 bases at a roughly 70% clip, which is an added bonus for Santana’s skillset.
Of course, money is always of interest in trade discussions, and Santana’s value only grows from a financial perspective. Agreeing to a minor-league deal with the Rangers prior to the season, his salary comes in at the league minimum, meaning that interested teams will owe essentially negligible money to Santana, who is controllable through 2021. His combination of affordability and the potential for long-term value—in addition to on-field performance—should make him an attractive candidate for plenty of teams between now and July 31. As Rangers position-players go, Santana may be the most valuable one who is likely to be dealt.
Figured he was much older than 28 after his MN and ATL days.
How do you “buy low” on a guy performing as he has?
Sogard > Santana
Santana>>Sogard
Santana & Sogard <<< Somebody else
Astros put the final nail in the coffin for the Rangers 2019 season this afternoon. Definite sellers… trade Minor, Santana and Pence before it’s too late.
Also Lynn,Cabrera,Choo,Odor and so on Veteran.
Odor is the next Ellsbury, there is no chance that any team wants him yet the fans continue to dump him in every trade proposal.
Shoot. At this point I’d offer to eat 75-80% of the remaining contract to get him off the books. Maybe someone would be interested in giving him a look then. He’s shown he’s got the talent. He just needs a coach capable of helping him pull his head out of his a…
Thats the whole problem, hes a head case. And so is his little brother. Dude plays like an allstar one week and hits 5 homeruns, then slumps for 6 weeks. And he is young but prospects of him getting better have disappeared. Hes got 5 yrs in majors and has always been the same. Sent him down to minors cpl times, comes back improved and looks like hes figured it out and he goes back to same thing again
No team in baseball is going to pay even 20% of Odor’s contract at this point. He has next to no value. The only thing I could see happening w Odor is some kind of bad contract swap so they free up 2B for Calhoun. The Giants have a number of bad contracts and maybe interested in swapping one or two of them for Odor.
Please don’t go for him Atlanta. We tried that once already.
OF isn’t really a need for Atlanta.
The Braves need a real closer now.
.394 BABIP, stay far, far, away
Astronomical BABIP on his only good year in MN, too.
There are notable differences between this season and that one though. More power, higher exit velocity, and a career high hard hit percentage means that while he probably can’t keep this production up, it’s not entirely a fluke either.
Not a fluke it’s a juiced ball
Smoke and mirrors
As a Stros fan, I’ve seen all their games with the Rangers. Santana and Pence have both played out of their mind, and Minor has been really good. Wish the Stros could pick up Minor as a 4th starter, but price will probably be steep, and Daniels probably doesn’t want to deal him to the Stros. Santana and Pence I would think contending teams would want to pick up for a low level prospect with high ceiling.
Make that high level major league pitching!
Really, for guys who are spare parts? I mean they’ve had good seasons, but would not be regulars on a contender.
Spare parts? Pence was an All-Star.
Low level prospect with high ceiling is likely exactly what we’ll be looking for. Santana might only get one but hopefully we can pull in two for Pence.
With the minor league talent in Houston, I bet JD would trade any of our current crop to Houston. The price might be a little higher, but it will still be less than a Bumgardner deal.
Most of his damage has been done at home, hard pass on this 1 hit wonder.
Package him in a deal with Odor! And Guzman! And Cabrera!
Hey, a guy can dream…..
Yup, and Odor made another error (that the official scorer was kind to the batter on) that but the Rangers in a deep hole.
Again!
Nobody cares about launch angle and exit velocity. Accept the wife
Rather have Refsnyder. What was his exit velocity from baseball?
Santana is a platoon heavy split, ridiculous unsustainable babip, player who was never a legit spec.
Any team paying anything for him is dumb: so Mets?
I could see them putting him and mike minor together to get a bigger haul of players
Santana will bring in a low tier prospect from single A or Double A
Minor will bring in good prospect most likely not in a teams tops 10 and probably some cash considerations
If any team isn’t offering a top 10 prospect within their system for Minor, a trade isn’t happening.
Exactly
are u serious mike minor will bring a top 5 prospect in teams system
Keep Bauer and get pence Cleveland.
He would be an interesting pick up for them to plug into LF, but depends what they have to give up to get him.
“To be sure, though” and “in that respect, then”: talk about writing verbosely. These writers need Grammarly or something.
As a ranger fan id have a harder time giving up santana than just about anybody. Yes i realize theres a good possibility its a fluke. But, odor sucks and elvis is getting older and has an opt out at end of season, guzman hasnt shown much yet, cabrera hasnt been good and is free agent, and pence is likely gone. Ill take a gamble on 28yo utility player making league minimum and 2+ yrs of control given the other question marks.
Exactly. I say the same for Minor. Better be a good haul for either as both can help next year and both are the type of guys you will be looking for as well. As JD said when he picked up Solak, competition is good.
Is there any way to trade Jon Daniels and a batboy to be named later?