Although Mariners outfielder Domingo Santana has come up as a potential target for the Rays, it doesn’t look as if the two teams will reach a deal for the slugger. Tampa Bay has “cooled on” Santana, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports. Divish cites the elbow problems that have bothered Santana over the past few weeks as a potential reason the Rays have backed off their pursuit. The 26-year-old has endured his worst month of the season, perhaps on account of his elbow, having batted .246/.310/.354 with 25 strikeouts in 71 plate appearances. July has marred Santana’s offensive numbers to an extent, though he has still slashed a solid .273/.342/.475 with 20 home runs in 446 plate appearances.
More from around the majors…
- The hope was Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina would return at the beginning of August when he landed on the injured list July 11 with a right thumb tendon strain. We now know that won’t happen. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak announced Monday that Molina was just cleared for “light baseball activities,” which still puts him around two weeks from rejoining the Cardinals, Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. Molina’s thumb has hampered him since May, which could at least partially explain his uncharacteristic .261/.286/.368 line in 276 plate appearances. Backup Matt Wieters has offered far better offensive production than Molina this season.
- Red Sox catcher Sandy Leon has hired The MAS+ Agency for representation, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. Leon, who’s earning $2.475MM this season, is slated to go through arbitration for the fourth and final time during the winter. Although Leon was the Red Sox’s best option behind the plate in 2016 – he slashed .310/.369/.476 with 2.3 fWAR in 283 plate appearances – he hasn’t come close to replicating that production since then. Dating back to 2017, Leon has hit .202/.263/.318 with 1.4 fWAR across 722 trips to the plate. The 30-year-old has largely done well behind the plate, including at framing pitches and throwing runners out, but his offensive decline has helped opened the door for Christian Vazquez to take over as Boston’s primary catcher over the past couple years.
- Shortstop Freddy Galvis was a late scratch from the Blue Jays’ lineup Monday, which led to speculation they were on the verge of trading the 29-year-old. That didn’t prove to be the case, though, as Galvis sat on account of lower back tightness (via Gregor Chisholm of the Toronto Star). Fortunately for Toronto, it doesn’t appear this issue will prove severe enough to kill Galvis’ trade value – which could be happening with Blue Jays closer Ken Giles and his balky elbow. Manager Charlie Montoyo said that Galvis should return Tuesday, per Scott Mitchell of TSN. Any kind of injury is a rare occurrence for Galvis, who came into the season with back-to-back 162-game campaigns under his belt. Galvis has missed more time than usual this year, but he has still appeared in 102 games and hit a career-best .265/.299/.435 with 15 homers in 421 PA.
I’ve really enjoyed having Wieters this year – helped us out a ton . I hope they look into signing him for another year or two.
Andrew Knizner downvoted this comment
But seriously, Wieters might have played himself out of a backup role for next year. I’d imagine he’ll want more playing time than he did earlier in the year when Yadi was on the roster
I hate to say this because I love Yadi, but we’re not really missing him at all.
He used to be able to play through his injuries and be fine, but his age doesn’t allow him to do that really anymore … I’m glad he’s taking his time to get fully healthy . I do miss the guy 🙁
Leon is going to need a team of agents to get more money out of Boston. He has lost value IMO. If he was that great of a catcher he would be more of a difference maker this year for Sale. He is an awful hitter. I mean just wretched. I’m scared children will see his at bats and ruin their future in baseball. LOL.
He’s still a hell of a defensive catcher. No one will reward him with big money. Perhaps the idea is to avoid arb and see if the team will extend years at modest dollars for a second catcher. Not sure it will happen but he might be looking to get security in an extra year or two.
Haha couldn’t agree more about the risk of kids seeing Leon’s ABs and it ruining their future in baseball… but seriously – like sometimes when he’s up there it’s like watching someone who’s never played baseball before try to swing. I honestly don’t get it some times. Because he has shown that he can be a decent contact hitter, but then there are times where he just looks like he’s never swung a bat before!
I think he’s still solid enough as a backup but also think it’s to the point where if there comes a better option it may be time to move on from him despite Sale’s love affair with him. And more on that point — honestly Sale isn’t good enough right now to be dictating who catches him and who doesn’t… he needs to get things straightened out no matter who’s behind the plate so I think if the match-up favors Vasquez it’s really time for Sale to suck it up and get ‘comfortable’ or whatever with him as much as he is Leon.
He’s also perhaps the team’s best bunter for what that’s worth. The Problem is this is neither he nor Vasquez have been consistent and thus the need for both. Given the rest of the offense, I have no issue with both remaining.
Posey>Molina
Buster Posey is the biggest lady person in all of the MLB – what catcher stands at the plate and watches someone charge his pitcher on the mound and not move an inch .. what an embarrassment to baseball AND softball catchers worldwide !
It was Hunter Strickland being stupid. Buster was like “You’re stupid, I’m not gonna defend you from that. You deserve a punch from Harper”
On to Molina. Dude completely insulted his fans. Sending them middle fingers. That’s just rude. Get off your high horse yadi, you’re not very good anymore.
Neither is posey…Molina was a better Catcher…posey just hit better
Also. You defend your teammate period. Whether or not he was being stupid especially catcher/pitcher
You know Posey was a great defensive catcher as well he wasn’t just a great hitter. He was one of the very best defensive catchers probably not quite in Yadi’s league but when you factor the bat I would take Posey all day long, in their primes.
when did Yadi flip off the fans?
when did this happen?
At least we won’t see Molina win his 4th undeserved GG this year.
Sad, sad person you are. Seek counseling for your Cardinal derangement syndrome.
I’ll get right on that, right after you shave the wool hanging over your eyes.
I think Domingo Santana would be a great pickup for any team needing some offense. I think he’s really underrated as an offensive weapon – I know his defense isn’t the greatest but I think if given the opportunity he could easily be a .280+ hitter with 35-40+ HR power. I know he’s already hit 30 in a season then kind of took a step back the following year. But I see him as kind of a younger Nelson Cruz, I with significant potential yet to be realized fully.
This is actually very simple. Molina will be a Hall of Famer. Posey will not. End of argument.
Molina – Age 37 with 39.1 WAR
Posey – Age 32 with 41.7 WAR + MVP Award
I think Posey will certainly be going to the Hall Of Fame should Molina get in first.
I’m sorry but Posey is not going to be a HOF lol !
Poseys “prime” lasted about 5 years . That’s not HOF, especially when at 32 his superior offensive stats are just north of a pitcher.
Any other position and you would probably be right but catchers with Posey’s numbers are in the Hall of Fame. You are wrong Posey will be a Hall of Famer due to the position he played and how he dominated his position. Catcher is the one position that a player as dominant as he was for 6 or 7 years will get you into the Hall.
How many gold gloves did he get ?
I’ll answer – I think Posey has one gold glove ….. I believe Molina has ….. nine.
Sooooooo, ya – should be a close one.
Derek Jeter has 5 Gold Gloves. The point? Gold Glove awards are nothing more than a popularity contest. The award doesn’t hold as much weight as it should.
I’m sure your right and the MLB coaches are wrong – my bad sir.
MLB managers, collectively, are the dumbest people in baseball.
Posey has 4 SS, an MVP, ROY, 833 OPS and 130 OPS+. Molina 1 SS, 0 MVP, 0 ROY, 737 and 98. Last time I checked, the HOF was about more than popularity contests of GG.
Ted Simmons 50.3 WAR. 2nd best hitting catcher of his era. Not in HOF. I laugh at the Molina “lock” for HOF argument because of his defense. So how does Simmons offense not get him in? Oh by the way, Simmons played in an era where stolen bases and speed was huge, and he threw out 34% of would be base stealers. Molina better at 41%, but the stolen base gave way to the HR years ago. And Billy Hamilton owns Molina.
It’s illegal to own people – duh.
Arrest me then, because I own you.
Yes Brad agreed if Molina gets in then Posey has to get in. Posey was a great defensive catcher and far superior hitter. Molina was better defensively but not by as much as most people perceive not close offensively. I would have to say for the position they play they both get in the Hall.
Thank you God Almighty for yet another absolute.
Sandy Leon is a good catcher, but he’ll always be a low cost backup catcher until he can learn how to hit.
So glad to see Vazquez improve in his hitting abilities. That guy is phenomenal behind the plate so to see him be able to hit makes him a stud.
It has been really nice to be able to absorb the loss of Molina so well with the high level of play coming from Weiters. It has been much better than the back up work the Cards got out of Pena last year, good to see they made the right call to stick with Weiters out of Spring Training.