3:58pm: Santana will earn a $1.75MM base salary if he makes it to the bigs and up to $1MM in incentives, Heyman tweets. There’s a $100K bonus if he starts the season in Triple-A.
1:33pm: The Red Sox have agreed to a minor league deal with free-agent infielder/outfielder Danny Santana, reports Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe. The Mato Sports Management client will head to Major League camp as a non-roster invitee. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman had previously suggested Boston was “in the mix” for Santana.
Santana, 30, has been hosting workouts for clubs over the past week or so and reportedly received enough interest that he canceled an open audition that would’ve taken place today. His 2020 season with the Rangers was limited to 15 games before an elbow injury required surgery, but it seems he’s sufficiently rehabbed and will join Boston’s Major League group once he clears intake protocols.
The switch-hitting Santana will add yet another versatile piece for a Red Sox organization that has already signed Enrique Hernandez to a two-year deal and Marwin Gonzalez to a one-year pact this winter. While he managed only a tepid .145/.238/.278 slash in 63 plate appearances due to the aforementioned elbow injury, his 2019 season with the Rangers resulted in an impressive .283/.324/.534 slash with a career-high 28 homers and 21 steals. The juiced ball in 2019 likely had something to do with that sudden power spike, however, as Santana has never shown that type of power in the past.
Santana debuted with the Twins in 2014 and finished seventh in American League Rookie of the Year voting before his bat tailed off for several seasons — some of which were marred by injury. He’s spent the bulk of his time in the big leagues in center field (1143 innings) and at shortstop (918 innings), but Santana has played all three outfield spots and all four infield spots as a Major Leaguer. Overall, he’s a .260/.299/.418 hitter at the game’s top level.
And so the most exciting storyline of the spring comes to a close.
Ho hum another garbage sign. We need relievers bloom!!!!!!
Why tf do we need him?
Because he’s a cheap versatile switch hitter who will be in demand at the trade deadline if he has a decent year. Same with most signings Boston has made this year.
All he’s going to do is take playing time from younger players
He is not gunna take any time from a player who wouldn’t have needed it. FOs are not so inept they are going to bench a prospect for a utility player.
Thank you!! This is something that has to explained every time, who cares about a minor league deal?
It amazes me how many people don’t realize that we have minor leagues teams, and that we store guys there just in case someone get injured.
Also probably insurance for Xander, who has a bum shoulder right now.
what’s wrong with a minor league deal? if he performs better that Kike and Marwin, you should come back here and re-analyze your post.
And if he doesn’t you should.
I feel for Boston fans, not gonna lie. Chaim Bloom is systematically turning this franchise into 1 nerd roster after another
I’m hearing Chaim Bloom is a Yankee fan.
Because haim bloom needs to sign average hurt bad players that other teams are releasing because thats what hes being told to do, fill out a roster, pretend your good, then next year, overspend on a free agent and win a world series, Think about the last few GM’S for the redsox who did EXACTLY that, say what you want about dombrowski,. the guy knew what to get to win a championship, so did cherington, BOTH of them made moves that won it all, not the division but the whole pie. You do remember the red sox from 2014 and 2015 right? no playoffs, 3 years later,. Champions. Bloom isnt the guy, all he knows how to do is get scrap heaps from other teams to be just good to be average, he did the same Thing in tampa, low money no name guys, yes ill admit a few of those guys turned out to be pretty decent, how many world series do they have to show for it? it rhymes with the word mero. This is the saddest few off seasons i have ever seen this team put together,
Chaim did an amazing job with their budget imo. This guys going to have money now and a great knowledge on getting prospects and development. Im actually very excited to what he can do 3/4 years from now with actual money to spend. If he can take a small market team to the ws why can’t he with a page market team?
R u kidding me when and why did we become a small market all of a sudden where we sign trade deadline players. Yanks don’t have this issue and we should way more of a budget than the rays yet they r way better than us. Not only that we had our version of Mike trout and we got nothing in return. Wow verdugo a singles hitter great. Bloom is not the answer Sox need to stop messing up contract offers and stop low balling the right players
The Sox currently have the #2 overall payroll towards the Luxury Tax in the game behind the Dodgers. All this crying about them becoming a small market team is so much nonsense. Just because Bloom didn’t give out the contracts doesn’t mean he doesn’t have to honor them. They have millions in dead money on their books. He can’t just ignore that or make it go away.
@ Amanda2019,
I really like you. You’re a great fan. Take a step back…….
You sound exactly like Dodger fans on here complaining about the first 2-3 years that Friedman was running their Baseball Ops.
P.S. Your comments on JBJ were spot on!
I honestly don’t know why dombrowski got so much hate cuz he got bad luck with relievers. It was cherington that reset us with those terrible contracts. The only complaint I have about dombrowski was the price contract but I don’t kill him for that cuz Sox wanted a pitcher and he was best available
Cherington did what he was told by the warring FO / Executives / Ownership.
That’s the whole point of bringing in Bloom and letting him build an organization from the ground up that makes the decisions, makes the acquisitions, works with the players, and runs the game.
Cherington did what he was told but that same ownership, who told him what to do, has told everyone else what to do to. I’m just saying. ownerships stance hasn’t changed and ownership hasn’t changed.
Samuel – are you a paid influencer? If not, you must be related to someone who is pushing the Bloom agenda.
Bloom was hired because DD refused to trade Mookie and dismantle the team he built. He had a plan through 2022 that was working and ownership didn’t want it to come out that Mookie didn’t want to stay because of something they did. So when they told DD their plans he said no. They needed a patsy so they fired DD and hired a guy who lacked credibility and history to defy their requests. At that point, Mookie is given to Bloom’s mentor and the next five years of baseball in Boston are destroyed.
Bloom isn’t Gahdi. He’s not a politician kissing babies and winning votes within the organization. He’s a nerd who wrote a book about player development and listened to knowledgeable baseball people about who to draft, trade and pick up in free agency. He never actually understood the game well enough to bring skills to Boston, he just brought the reputation of the TB front office to Boston. Since he’s floundered for over a year and a half,, it’s damn clear he wasn’t the brains behind the decisions on who to trade, draft or procure through free agency. He just sat in a room with a bunch of people who did know what to do. That’s why the ship is dead in the water. He wasn’t allowed to bring the oars from TB to tell him who to trade, pick or procure.
Or maybe he’s simply hoping by shuffling some unimportant cards that are meaningless he is buying time for DD’s minor league players to graduate and lift the team. Unlike Friedman who used the “sit on his hands” approach too, he no longer has a 92 win team since they gave away Mookie and Price. He won’t be able to ride his predecessor to success like Friedman, he’s doomed to fail because he broke up the championship team as his first act as new GM.
Red Sox fans are screwed and no paid influencer is going to sway the opinions of the masses about the job Bloom is doing. He’s performed at an F level so far and in a year EVERYONE will be calling for his head. He better hope guys like Dalbec, Houck and Duran become stars quickly to save his job. Yep, the guys that were here before him are the ones that have the best chance of saving him. That’s a tribute to DD.
KD17, where do you buy your tinfoil hats? Or are they homemade?
ShieldF123 – Let me know how I can dumb it down so you can comprehend. Why don’t you articulate your ideas rather than being a gutless wonder who simply insults?
Well said
He was low-key like Brock Holt for us. Loved his attitude, and y’all are gonna love him, Boston.
BROCK HOLT!
Maeby?
See, knew they’d resign Holt.
Thought he was a good fit for the cardinals…
The Red Sox interestingly continue to compile low OBP players this offseason.
They are trying to build their own version of the Gashouse Gang, or for those Bugs Bunny fans, the Gashouse Gorillas.
Him and marwin g are the exact same
See, knew they’d resign Holt.
The Sox now lead the free world in spare parts.
Which is a little like saying, “My car doesn’t start. but I have TWO spare tires'”.
For a guy that follows the Rays so closely, you can’t figure out what Bloom is doing here?
#1, we have no idea how much of what the Rays do was Bloom’s doing. Lots of folks down there were involved in decision making. This wasn’t a Dave Dombrowski rule by fiat type of front office.
Who knows; Bloom might make it work. Lots and lots of stuff have to happen positively for it to happen, though. And I doubt many of those things will be by Messers. Santana, Gonzales et al. Kiki? Ya, fun guy…meh talent.
bob;
You have to get out of this thinking that one person in a FO makes a decision and all the others are given marching orders. Doesn’t work like that in any American organization. Whether Bloom made the decision or not, he was involved in the discussions about it, and learned from it.
Please see my comment (a few) below to Dorothy_Mantooth. The Red Sox are changing, and none too soon.
Thanks, dad. Really, being condescending just doesn’t feed the bulldog with me. Makes you a keyboard warrior with no stones. Have your fun, give it to others.
Someday you’ll be a man. Until then, sell it somewhere else.
Samuel – No offense but have you worked in America? Or overseas in an American Organization? What a bizarre way to begin a misguided speech!!
First, lets be clear, IF Bobtillman says it’s true. It’s true!! He has great wisdom when it comes to the dbag known as Bloom. He’s actually far more positive towards him than I am and he doesn’t really like what he’s doing so you can imagine what I think of the wanna be.
I read your crap below Dorothy_ and its an ignorant man’s manifesto. Everything could have been directly written from a Friedman press release where he takes credit for things he didn’t do in LA.
Did you actually look at what Friedman did in LA? Did he change something really or did he simply wait for all the great work done by his predecessor to develop into a studly MLB roster and farm system? Count the great players on the WS team and determine how many are actually Friedman guys. VERY FEW. Check the great players coming up through their ranks and see how many Friedman had input on. VERY FEW. I’ve never seen anyone in the history of baseball take more credit for something they didn’t do except maybe for SELIG when he declared himself the savior of baseball.
Friedman’s a fraud and TB’s pathetic approach to baseball comes out of necessity not baseball acumen. Count the rings it won’t take long, there are NONE.
One last point you condescending jack ass, you want to try to change baseball to behave in your interchangeable player model, great!! Take it overseas and see how it works out. NOBODY wants 8 utility players for flexibility. That’s insane and your beliefs are so far out there I’m not sure Nuke LaLoosh could grasp them.
Learn the game. Figure out that body types don’t lend themselves to a universal man theory. Most importantly, there is NEVER one right way to do things. Your vision of baseball is distorted by your misguided understanding of a sport you read about from a lab or an island. That is not the future of baseball.
Further proof I am right. JoeBrady agreed with you!! I rest my case.
Can he pitch? (insert eye roll here)
Minor league deal, could turn out to be a decent bench piece.
Still only 30.
If he’s healthy he’ll help a team off the bench, and can fill in for a week or two to cover for an injured regular. Can play any of the INF positions and LF and CF @ Fenway. If something kicks in he can be a major surprise. I like him a lot more than Marwin González who had a few good years when the Astros spotted him correctly and got major pub from being on a winner.
Chaim and his technical people were right to try working with him. Was worth the shot.
Getting Santana, and having him as an mlb bench piece, even if it is to get him to look good enough to flip at the trade deadline, seems crazy. Sure, if it was instead of Marwin, but one of these guys is probably going to cause the loss of Arroyo, as he doesn’t have any options. And will probably force Chavis to stay in AAA, no matter how well he plays. Unless someone with some major league value can be traded for prospects, this is going to bite them in the arse.
Arroyo has value?
It’s a minor league deal meaning no guarantee on the roster. If anything this move is great because it comes with no risk. Besides, If Santana beats out one of those players he will have earned it respectfully considering the guys you mentioned in my opinion have no guarantee.
The Red Sox are building depth this season with a bunch of interchangeable parts. Besides the surprisingly large deal they gave to Kiké, it seems like they will have no problem DFAing Marwin, Renfroe, Franchy or Arroyo if players like Santana, Munoz, Chavis and maybe even Duran outplay them this Spring or in the early part of the minor league season. It’s too bad that the AAA & AA seasons are being delayed by a month as I expect the Worcester to Boston or Portland to Boston express being quite active this year. I’m guessing there are another 4-5+ 40 man roster changes coming to the Red Sox over the course of this season. They are going to play the hottest players and DFA those who can’t cut it. Sound familiar, Rays fans?
Don’t sleep on the Red Sox this season. If they get decent starting pitching, they are going to slug their way to a lot of victories.
Dorothy_Mantooth;
You are a sharp Red Sox fan (I’m not a fan of theirs, nor do I dislike them).
Bloom was brought in to totally change the way the Red Sox evaluate, draft, trade for, develop players, and deploy players. As I mentioned to another Red Sox fan, some of the comments on here are similar to those during Friedman’s first few years with the Dodgers. This is not fantasy baseball, it takes time to change a culture and bring in new ways of approaching business.
Not so long ago it was recognized that relief pitchers were the most volatile part of a major league team. So sharp FO’s took steps to carve out roles for them; moving guys around (including off and on the team) to spot them in good situations and primarily play the hot hands. That approach is now carrying over to the entire ML team, the ML roster, the variable ML roster in the high minors, and the never-ending transactions between teams that happen multiple times a week during the season. Only a small percentage of the roster play one position and/or do one thing. Average players now need multiple skills that a manager situationally during each game.
The days of the Red Sox fielding a starting 8 with maybe one or two positions platooned; a starting 5 and set relief pitchers, are over forever. It’s not the way MLB is played today. (And might I add – even large market teams can no longer get stuck with more then a few lousy long-term player contracts, i.e. we give the guy XX years knowing we’ll only get X years of quality productivity.)
The Red Sox organization has made the adjustment (unfortunately, the 2 NYC franchises have not), Now the fans need to.
I agree 100%. For years, the RS had the same guy playing the same position, every day. There is nothing wrong with that, but TB and LAD have been using a much more flexible roster. And we we can now carry 14 legitimate pitchers. What we lack in top-tier pitching talent, we might be able to make up for in depth.
@JoeBrady: “And we we can now carry 14 legitimate pitchers.”
Now all they have to do is find them.
Let’s see, there is Chris Sale, who is about 3 weeks short of turning 32 and who did not pitch last season because of Tommy John surgery and whose win total for BOS has gone from 17 to 12 to 6 to 0 in his four years with the club.
There is Eduardo Rodriguez, only 26, but ended up missing the 2020 season because of a heart problem.
How about Nathan Eovaldi, age 31, who has made 32 starts in three years with BOS and has a total of 9 wins for the club.
A number of the pitchers Bloom has picked up have also had injury problems in the past.
The Red Sox don’t need to win every year, as I’m sure John Henry, et al., have figured out. Look at their attendance. They won the WS in 2013 but they had higher attendance when they finished 5th the year before and after. They won the WS in 2018 but had higher attendance the two previous years when they finished 1st but lost the ADS and the year after when they finished 3rd.
Boston Rays at it again
Sox cornering the market on super subs.
Whats most worrisome about this, last season and this, bloom doesnt have the faith that management gives their Gms/presidents, you knew with the others they said’ spend money, thats no problem, just win and say the right thing for the cameras. Have any of you seen 1 interview bloom has done? every word he says is henpecked, hes nervous, cant think for himself and knows hes under a microscope, he has absolutely no freedom other than getting guys that look good analytically cause thats all he can do. Do you honestly think he didnt ask about Lemahieu? the BEST 2nd baseman for a team THAT DOESNT HAVE ONE.
Amanda, while I know where you’re coming from, it appears that Bloom’s testies have finally started to drop. He sounds much more confident in his latest media sessions. Check out the ones where he discusses the potential for the 7-9 positions in the batting order and the potential to lock up Raffy on a long term deal. He is much more confident than he has been in the past. He seems quite confident that he has put together a decent team this year (as does Cora). Not necessarily World Series worthy but potentially playoff worthy if things break right for them.
Amanda20192 hours ago
Do you honestly think he didnt ask about Lemahieu? the BEST 2nd baseman for a team THAT DOESNT HAVE ONE.
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I would guess almost certainly not. Maybe not even a 1% chance. The NYY signed DJLM until the age 37. Our either 1st/2nd best prospect is a 2B, as was our #1 draft pick. Downs will likely be up this year, or next year latest. Yorke will likely be up well before DJLM’s contract is over.
I can’t recall another Red Sox team of the last quarter century that has generated this little enthusiasm in me. It’s mediocrity at almost every position, except shortstop and perhaps third base. Chaim Bloom couldn’t have created a more boring team if that were in fact his goal. Looking forward to 2024, when I hope some of these moves will have panned out.
This is the most versatile .500 team in my Red Sox memory.
William – Don’t get crazy on me. .500? I think .406 in honor of Ted Williams is more accurate!!
Chaim adding to his collection of Utility players
Santana hit a solid .165 !!!!! Wow Bloom continues to knock the off season out of the ball park!!! LOL!!!! He did not sign JBJ !!! This team could do worse than Baltimore this year!
AL34 – I’m at 65 wins right now. With an upside of 69. Keys will be if the only four hitters worth anything stay healthy. Bogey, JD, Devers go down for any length of time it’s 5th place guaranteed. If Verdugo’s back acts up again, it will drop the wins but not as dramatically as the big 3.
If Sale is healthy by May 1 75 wins could happen. I hope that happens but it seems likely with the inexperience of Cora and Bloom. E-Rod must stay healthy and put up those big numbers again … 3.81 ERA and 1.33 WHIP. Yes, that was his best year in 2019. The numbers don’t suggest a #2 SP unless it’s the Marlins. Eovaldi needs to stay healthy and face SPs that aren’t #1 or #2 SPs. He’s a #3 who can’t beat #1 and #2 SPs very often. Houck needs to do well like in college. If he can put up a 3.50 ERA and 1.15 WHIP, he’s the #2 SP!! Sad and pathetic, yep.
No closer hurts. We’ll need to track how many games are lost by a bouncing 12 to 6 curve ball before Ottavino gets the job. Relief to me unlike many is NOT one of the Red Sox biggest problems. The biggest problems are = 3 Excellent hitters not 9, horrendous defense at 3B and the outfield, a clueless, immoral manager, a clueless motionless GM, a racist set of owners and the worst starting staff in the bigs. Other than that, the Red Sox could win 120 games like in the good old days when DD was GM and the owners spent money.
Nickname check… I’m going w Dantana.
He might be a little redundant, but if he can play clean defense and get a handful of key hits, he’s def worth a couple mil.
It isn’t the best FA off-season, but I like how Bloom is piecing things together. He’s making Cora’s job a little easier.
Now… pitching. Yeesh
I heard Marwin, Kike, and Danny are competing for the 5th starter job. HAHA
Chaim, how many utility infielders are needed?
But they’re utility everythings! Infielders, outfielders… catchers? Extra bullpen arms? Even the famous knife is now to be called a Boston Army Knife.
I have a serious question!!!!!!!!!!!!
If EVERY player in the game is a UTILITY PLAYER, is there really a UTILITY PLAYER? Do we need a name for the guy playing who isn’t a UTILITY PLAYER? I don’t know, do we call him a Unicorn or some other mythical being?
Great picture of Santana, Steve.
With Marwin, Kike, and Danny all on the same team (Chavis, too, for that matter), I’m wondering if the Red Sox are looking to expand to areas other than baseball. Perhaps they’ll also serve as extra bullpen arms. Or maybe they’ll put on variety shows prior to, and after games. Perhaps form a band? Maybe they’ll start an independent league football or basketball team.
Here’s an idea… and I’m getting giddy just thinking about it!… What if they were to hire Ben Zobrist as a utililty coach? I mean coaching 3rd base on Monday, managing the team on Tuesday, acting as team president Wednesday?!?! Ooooohhhh…. goosebumps!!!
I just saw on the news that NASA has released a statement that they are in negotiations with the Red Sox to provide “on-call” astronauts in case someone gets sick. More to come…
Kellen66 = You win comments of the day!! Can’t stop laughing!!
Haha Glad you like them. I tend to be the type of person whose sense of humor others don’t find funny, so I just say things for my own amusement. Lol
It’s a minor league signing there is no risk here. This is also a guy that was pretty darn good in 2019. It’s just silly to complain about this signing.
Bruin1012 – My perspective is fans are simply unhappy that the Bloom adds are players of no impact. 4th worst in baseball and no impact players. Those two concepts don’t flow logically. I have no issue with the guys as individuals. They are insignificant. That’s where my issue is.
Talent wins games. Building a bomb shelter or an interchangeable team to weather through the injuries seems like someone has lost focus on the goal of winning. Shouldn’t Bloom be focused more on building a real foundation rather than throwing bricks under the building to hold it up? For me it’s simple. Go position by position and solve the need.
Catcher – were good with Vazquez for now = not an immediate need.
Firstbase – We have Dalbec and now five others who can back him up – not an immediate need but we still got yet another potential back-up
Secondbase – Nothing long-term = need to determine long-term solution
Shortstop – Set with Bogey – need to remove the opt out to execute the plan
Thirdbase – We have the butcher now but he’ll move to DH next year – need to find a long=term solution. Check out whether Dalbec could be that answer so Casas can be the 1B of the future.
Left Field – We have nothing now that Benny is gone – Need to find replacement for Benny
Center Field – We have Duran long-term – Need to monitor his progress and use UTILITY guys until he’s ready
Right Field – Verdugo – Need to have reliable back-up in case his back goes out again.
DH – JD now – Devers long-term
SP1 – Sale – Need arms to fill in until he’s ready
SP2 – EROD? – Need to see if he can pitch better than 2019 if not a #2 SP is needed
SP3 – Eovaldi – Good for another year but injury prone so need depth just in case
SP4 – Houck – Need to give him opportunity to prove he’s at least a #4 if not higher
SP5 – Pivetta – Need to give him opportunity to prove he’s at least a #5 if not higher
Build depth for injuries but does the entire team need to be below league average other than Sale, Bogaerts, JD, Devers and possibly Verdugo?
CLOSER – NEED ONE. Ottavino, Barnes, Taylor and Hernandez great for set-up
This isn’t rocket science. Bloom should be finding his long-term solutions and procuring them. Money should NEVER be an issue but since a TB GM was chosen then do your TB magic and find those missing pieces NOW and get them at a low cost so you make your owners happy, the cheap bastards!!!