The Guardians have launched first baseman Carlos Santana, per a crew announcement. He’d been positioned on outright waivers earlier within the week and clearly went unclaimed. Infielder Daniel Schneemann has been reinstated from the paternity record and can take Santana’s spot on the energetic roster. Santana is now a free agent and might signal with any crew for the prorated league minimal for the rest of the season. As long as he indicators previous to Sept. 1, he could be postseason-eligible with a brand new crew.
Santana’s third stint in Cleveland will conclude with a lackluster .225/.316/.333 batting line and 11 residence runs in 455 plate appearances. The 39-year-old stays an elite defender at first base, however his bat has wilted from each side of the plate. The veteran switch-hitter is slashing simply .220/.311/.325 in opposition to right-handed pitching and .235/.328/.353 versus lefties. That mentioned, Santana was a thunderous drive in opposition to left-handed pitching as lately as final season, when he raked at a .286/.356/.578 tempo in 163 probabilities from the right-handed batter’s field.
By means of the commerce deadline, Santana’s bat was no less than inside arm’s attain of league common, however nearly all of his manufacturing this yr got here in a torrid month of Might. He’s been under common on the plate in each different month and has cratered in August, hitting .186/.271/.233 via 48 plate appearances.
His current poor play, coupled with the presence of younger Kyle Manzardo and the current promotion of prime prospect C.J. Kayfus, left Santana with no clear position on a Guardians membership that has fallen out of postseason rivalry. Cleveland will take the ultimate month of the season to get common reps for the 25-year-old Manzardo and the 23-year-old Kayfus. They’d absolutely hoped that one other membership would declare Santana and tackle the rest of his $12MM wage, however that was all the time an extended shot. The Guards will stay on the hook for what’s left of that sum (minus the prorated minimal for any time he spends on one other membership’s main league roster).
