The Braves announced this afternoon that they’ve released reliever Edgar Santana. The move clears space on the 40-man roster for southpaw Tucker Davidson, who was added to the World Series roster in place of the injured Charlie Morton. Davidson had been on the 60-day injured list since late June. Players on the 60-day IL don’t count against a team’s 40-man roster, so Atlanta needed to open a 40-man spot to formally activate Davidson before tonight’s contest.
Santana has been on the injured list himself, landing on the 10-day IL with an intercostal strain during the final week of the regular season. Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers, so the Braves had to release Santana to remove him from the 40-man roster.
The Braves acquired Santana from the Pirates in early April. He was optioned on and off the active roster a few times but ultimately logged 42 2/3 innings over 41 outings. The righty pitched to a solid 3.59 ERA, actually the highest mark he’s posted in three big league seasons. That came without many punch-outs, as Santana only fanned 18.9% of opponents and benefited from batters’ .244 batting average on balls in play against him. The 30-year-old did avoid walks and induce grounders at an above-average clip, though, and his 12.4% swinging strike rate checked in a touch above the league average for relievers.
Santana now finds himself on release waivers. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him to receive a salary around $1MM if tendered an arbitration contract. That’s not an onerous figure, so it’s at least possible someone puts in a claim with an eye towards keeping him around for 2022. Should Santana pass waivers through unclaimed, he’d be a free agent.
Alright. Diamondbacks, Rangers or Orioles
Go get him lol
This isn’t shocking but at least a little surprising. Santana is no star but he didn’t seem terrible this season. They had to have the roster space to add Tucker Davidson. They should have released Josh Tomlin instead, though.
Yeah no doubt.
There’s a couple of others that would have made sense as well.
This was bound to happen. Homeruns were an issue and he’s due an arb raise projected at $1 million (not worth that at all). Tomlin will have his option declined.
Santana was solid, this is surprising
I’m confused, didn’t he have options left? Or at least could be optioned again this year?? If so, why didn’t we do that considering he’s still under team control? He wasn’t that bad… I’d gladly hold on to him if we could. Idk.. he’s one I feel we should keep if he have the ability to do so…
pretty sure he’s out of options. he’s no spring chicken…
So I don’t believe age plays a factor in it. In fact, he’s arbitration eligible still …. My understanding of options is, you have 3 years to option a guy as many times as you want. If you option him in a year, the clock immediately starts. So he’s only been in the league 3 years, soooooo he still has options remaining for this year as that’s not limited. Next year, maybe no, but this year yes. So what am I missing… must be a rule or something? Or Braves just simply don’t want him idk…
Basically it’s an early non-tender.
Fangraphs has his page listed as two option years remaining so I stand corrected
Incoming Red Sox vs. Blue Jays waiver war
I know he wasn’t a long time Brave and he was hurt, but it would still be a bummer to get released during the World Series.
I guess transferring a player to the 60-day IL isn’t allowed during the WS?
Not sure when the cutoff date is for placing players on the 60 day IL. I’d guess it is the last day of the regular season, but even if they could do that in the postseason, it wouldn’t make much sense as teams need to add all 60 day IL players back their 40 man roster by the end of the World Series, so this would have only bought them 5-10 days max. It’s better to do it now and hope other teams are caught sleeping while they are trying to figure out who they need to add to and release from their 40 man roster. Then they can try to sign him to a minor league FA deal should no one claim him.
Teams have pending free agents, so players on the 60-day IL can move into the roster spots the free agents vacate after the World Series.
I suspect 60-day placements are prohibited after the regular season ends, even for teams still active in the postseason, but not sure why.
Probably because the season is pretty much over at this point
Overall numbers are solid.
Looked him up on Savant. He is a low spin rate sinker/slider guy. Post sticky stuff, teams are a little more interested in that type of pitcher.
For a million bucks I think he finds a taker.
He can always get signed back and is still gonna get a ring just like Panda will.
If the Pirates didn’t already get rid of this guy, they’d be a prime candidate to claim him.
He’s better than all but 2 or 3 guys in the Bucs current pen. I was perplexed when they let him go.
My guess is that the Pirates traded him because his spring training was not great and he was 29 years old.He also did not throw 95 mph and he was coming off TJ surgery and had not pitched since 2018 which was the last full year that they had a decent team.His era this year,which does not tell the whole story for a reliever,was 3.59 which was the highest of his three years,This guy is never going to be a closer but he is a solid reliever especially for a bad team.Think Casey Sadler whose era this year was 0.67.It seems to me that he should have another option left,and,yes,$1M is not too much for a decent reliever.
So why did the Braves remove 2 players off of the 40 man roster so 1 could be added?
They only removed one (Santana). Morton is still on the 40-Man roster. Only players on the 60-day IL don’t count toward the 40 man and all those players currently on the 60 day IL have to be reinstated by the end of the World Series or released anyways. Charlie Morton just remains on the 40-man roster as there is no need to add him to the 10 day-IL since the season ends before then and the commissioner approved removing Morton from the active WS roster.
Let’s Go Brandon!!! Ooops, I meant Let’s Go Padres! With our new pitching coach, Nibela, this guy will be golden for the Brown & Yellow!
Ah yes, the poos and pees!
I would’ve gotten rid of Tomlin or Dayton first as both are injured and Tomlin is going to be a free agent whereas Dayton just gets injured all the time.
Edgar Santana has declined the opportunity to pursue the Mets President of Baseball Operations vacancy.
So why didn’t they add Morton to the 60 day? He’s most certainly not pitching anywhere in the next 60 days.
I’d love to see the Braves bring him back into the fold.
Santana would be a nice bullpen addition for the Orioles. He definitely is an upgrade over Fry and Scott.