11:10am: Santana’s deal comes with a $1.5MM base if he makes the big league roster, tweets Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star. He can also earn an additional $1.75MM via incentives. Santana can ask for his release May 15 if he’s not on the Royals’ 40-man roster, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network.
10:52am: The Royals announced Tuesday that they’ve signed old friend Ervin Santana to a minor league contract. The veteran right-hander will presumably head to Major League Spring Training and vie for a roster spot.
Santana, 38, didn’t sign with a team for the 2020 season and hasn’t appeared in the big leagues since an early-2019 run with the White Sox failed to pan out. He starred for the Royals back 2013 — the start of a five-year run that marked the most consistently productive stretch of the two-time All-Star’s career. Santana racked up 211 innings of 3.24 ERA/3.93 FIP ball with Kansas City that year but found a harsh market in free agency after rejecting a qualifying offer and eyeing too large a contract early in the winter.
He eventually opted to take a one-year deal with the Braves — one that continues to benefit Atlanta to this day — before returning to the market in the 2014-15 offseason and cashing in on a four-year, $55MM contract with the Twins. Santana was the Twins’ most consistent pitcher for much of that deal, but the wheels came off in year four after he underwent surgery to repair a tendon in the middle finger on his right hand. After pitching to a 3.47 ERA in his first 500 innings in Minnesota, Santana was clobbered for an 8.03 ERA in just 24 2/3 innings in the final year of the deal. He signed with the ChiSox that offseason but was tagged for 14 runs in 13 1/3 innings.
It’s been quite some time since Santana was a productive big league starter now, but he’ll head back to the Royals organization in search of a job somewhere on a staff that looks heavily reliant on young, still-developing arms. Kansas City’s rotation has veterans Mike Minor and Danny Duffy locked into spots, and Rule 5 gem Brad Keller is set to open a fourth year in the rotation as well.
Jakob Junis gives the club an inconsistent but at times solid option, and Kansas City has a bevy of upper-level pitching prospects in the form of Brady Singer, Kris Bubic, Daniel Lynch and Jackson Kowar. Both Singer and Bubic made their MLB debuts in 2020, but neither is exactly a lock to hold down a spot all year — particularly given the difficulties of managing innings workloads in the wake of the shortened 2020 schedule.
The 38-year-old Santana will give the Royals a veteran depth option to compete for either a rotation spot or a long-relief job. He’s been pitching in the Dominican Winter League this offseason, logging a 2.61 ERA and a 25-to-11 K/BB ratio in 20 2/3 innings to date.
I always liked Ervin. Could be a good little minor league deal.
He is doing excellent in winter ball right now. It’s not everything but it’s something. I could see this having upside. And how cool would that be to see him pitching against the Twins?
Welcome back, Ervin. No such thing as a bad minor league deal.
You wouldn’t believe the people on this site that love to complain about them though!
Mrtwotone – people on this site love to complain about everything and anything. Lol
I wish they would go complain to their shrink instead.
@Yaz1971: Stop complaining.
🙂
Lol. Now that’s funny…
I hope he does well. I’ve always loved Ervin. Super underrated career for what he did.
He did pretty well for the Royals in his previous stay there. Of course, that was seven years and a lot of home runs allowed ago.
I admire the royals desire to stay competitive. Seems like them and Padres are only 2 teams that are wanting to do anything
*cough* Rangers…
The Braves did sign 2 starting pitchers
I was sure that he’d retired already since I hadn’t heard his name since 2017 then I remembered that he actually pitched last year (???) with the White Sox
2019 feels like three years ago at this point to be honest
No it doesn’t.
Yes it does. lol
its obviously hyperbole but okay dude
good buy low pickup. dont know if they will have a spot for him though.
In other words the Padres haven’t made another move.
Context on how Santana benefits Atlanta to this day?
After a quick search it seems looks like Mike Soroka was selected with the pick they got for losing him to free agency
Thanks, I wondered the same thing and assumed it was a comp pick.
Bouer bagging the Padres…
I really believe this is a good pickup for the Royals. Maybe he can catch some of his old form. Really a good pitcher and a long successful career.
Every year Dayton hits on a washed up starter on a minor league deal. Even money he ends up flipping him for someone’s #25 prospect.
He’s my sleeper pick to win MVP this year
Hopefully his middle finger just needed time to heal helping his spin rate get back somewhere near normal.
I Pity the fool who dislikes Santana!
Always remember Ervin in between innings eating a banana , dude is a cool competitor. Will be a good influence on the youngsters in camp even if he doesn’t make the team.
Now that’s a name that I haven’t heard of in a long time.
He’s doing well in winter ball.
Could even see him slide into a bullpen role after spring as well. Dayton Moore always seems to find at least one reclaimation project for his staff to work with every season. I doubt this is the last one either.
I read an article from the Dominican republic and he is apparently one hundred percent healthy from the injury her had. 38 years old. This could be a solid move for the royals.
I had kind of thought he had decided to retire from baseball… But good for him for attempting a comeback — and, not that it’s totally comparable, but he ha been pitching REALLY well in the Dominican Summer League — so maybe he’s got one more run in him and could actually put together one last (or who knows 2+ more) solid seasons. Best of luck to him.
Royals cornering the market on guys named Santana! Oye como va!
when they gonna add Domingo and make it a tri-fecta?