The Twins have avoided arbitration with left-hander Hector Santiago by agreeing to a one-year deal worth $8MM, reports Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (on Twitter). Santiago, a client of Excel Sports, earns a nice raise over last year’s $5MM salary. He’d been projected to earn $8.6MM by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.
The 29-year-old Santiago was in the midst of a typically solid season with the Angels (4.25 ERA, 8.0 K/9, 4.3 BB/9 in 121 innings) when he surprisingly found himself traded to the Twins alongside minor league reliever Alan Busenitz in exchange for Ricky Nolasco and injury-prone former top prospect Alex Meyer. Santiago’s fortunes turned immediately upon getting to Minnesota, and he struggled badly with the Twins over the life of the two months he spent in Minnesota.
In 61 1/3 innings, Santiago logged a 5.58 ERA with just 5.4 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9 as he became significantly more prone to home runs. Those numbers are obviously an eyesore, but the new Twins front office is apparently confident that Santiago can return to form, as CBO Derek Falvey and GM Thad Levine saw fit to retain him at a not-insignificant $8MM rate. Prior to this discouraging season, Santiago had posted a 3.62 ERA 457 innings with the White Sox and Angels from 2013-15, working primarily as a starting pitcher.
I hope they flip him at the deadline otherwise this doesn’t make sense
I’d say he’s not worth 8M, but the Twins need the depth. They have Ervin and four question marks.
If they acquire more starters then they can still cut him and not pay the whole 8M. Can’t remember what the deadline date is for that but it has to do with Spring Training.
He would make a good reliever. With the Angels, he would look unbeatable for 3 – 4 innings and then was out of the game by the 5th or 6th.
There were games where he dominated through 5 and 6 and rarely through 7 and 8
He has the ability to fill out the back end of a rotation nicely, the trade by the Angels was puzzling to me last season
I am still wondering why the angels traded this guy away. Could’ve made a good reliever.
I like nolasco a lot though.
Well you sort of answered your own question. They were out of it, he was at the peak of his value, and so they dealt him for a more durable, right-handed version of him so they could get the young arm for the future. Meaning getting Meyer meant including Nolasco. So it actually turned into an upgrade and an additional prospect.
Nolasco and Santiago or both bad to me, but Nolasco more durable? Santiago has pitched 100 more innings in the last three years. One of Nolasco’s problems besides being bad was the fact that he kept getting injured.
Kind of makes you wonder if Minnesota needs a new pitching coach. Seems like everyone who joins the team with the exception of Ervin Santana regresses into poor performances.