Osuna, who turns 29 later this month, hit .258/.293/.401 with 13 home runs over 495 plate appearances for the Swallows in 2021, serving as the team’s primary first baseman and also getting a bit of playing time at third base.  Osuna also picked up some key hits for the Swallows during their postseason run, as the Tokyo squad captured the Japan Series championship.

While his numbers were modest, the Swallows clearly felt good enough about Osuna’s performance to make this long-term commitment.  The $5.1MM also represents much more security that Osuna would’ve found in a contract with a big league team this winter, as he would likely have had to settle for a minor league deal (and could’ve now been in limbo due to the lockout).

A longtime member of the Pirates organization, Osuna hit .241/.280/.430 with 24 home runs over 705 career plate appearances in the majors, all with Pittsburgh from 2017-20.  Osuna received a solid chunk of playing time in part-time and platoon roles with the Bucs, though the club opted to designate him for assignment last offseason rather than pay him a projected $1.1MM arbitration salary.

From that same Yahoo Japan report, the Swallows are also in talks with outfielder Domingo Santana about another contract.  In his first Japanese season, Santana was one of the Swallows’ top bats, hitting .290/.366/.511 with 19 home runs over 418 PA.

The author of a 30-homer season with the Brewers in 2017, Santana hit .255/.341/.446 with 77 home runs over parts of seven big league seasons from 2014-20 with Houston, Milwaukee, Seattle, and Cleveland.  Santana’s subpar defense, however, made him a veritable bat-only player, so the Guardians declined their 2021 club option on his services following a mediocre 2020 campaign.

Santana, 28, returned to the open market recently when the Indians declined a club option. He’ll now hope for a resurgence in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top level of play outside of North America.

While he has generally been a productive hitter in the majors, Santana hasn’t always done quite enough damage to make up for his defensive limitations. At his best — in 2017 with the Brewers — he swatted thirty long balls and turned in a full season of 126 wRC+ hitting, making it easy to overlook the questionable work in the outfield grass. At his work — in 2020 with the Indians — a rough offensive stretch left Santana a below-replacement-level performer.

It’s not difficult to imagine a prodigious offensive output from Santana in Japan. He’s still rather young and has typically reached base at a solid enough clip to tamp down any worries with his usually hefty strikeout tally.

Foltynewicz spent the previous six seasons with the Braves, and he looked like a front-line starter at times. During his best season, 2018, Foltynewicz threw 183 innings of 2.85 ERA/3.37 FIP ball with 9.93 K/9 and 3.34 BB/9. His career began coming off track the next season, though, as the Braves demoted him to Triple-A during the summer. While Foltynewicz did return to the majors and finish on a positive note, he wasn’t able to carry that momentum into 2020. The 29-year-old made just one appearance – on July 27 – gave up six earned runs in 3 1/3 innings and experienced an alarming drop in velocity, going from the 95 mph range to 90.5. The Braves then designated Foltynewicz for assignment, but no one claimed him and he spent the remainder of the year at their alternate training site.

The Indians took a $1.5MM gamble on Santana last winter after a 21-home run season with the Mariners, though he struggled in the second half of the 2019 campaign and hasn’t recovered since. He amassed 84 plate appearances as an Indian and hit a nonthreatening .157/.298/.286 with a pair of home runs. To no one’s surprise, the Indians declined the 28-year-old’s $5MM option for 2021.

Bonifacio was once a top 100 prospect with the Royals, but he has fallen on hard times since a promising start in 2017. An 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs limited him in 2018, during which he offered subpar production over 270 PA, and Bonifacio took only 21 trips to the plate the next season. The Royals then released Bonifacio, who signed a minors deal with the division-rival Tigers. Though he did get back to the majors with the Tigers, the 27-year-old logged the worst production of his career, hitting .221/.277/.326 line and two homers across 94 PA.

Heineman, an ex-Marlin, became a Giant on a minors pact in January. He cracked their season-opening roster, started Game 1 and was a regular into mid-August, but he lost almost all of his playing time to Joey Bart and Chadwick Tromp from there. Heineman ended the campaign with a .190/.292/.214 line and no homers in 50 attempts.

Carlos Santana will get a $500K buyout instead of the $17.5MM salary he could have made. Domingo Santana will earn $250K in lieu of a $5MM salary. Meanwhile, the Indians will pay Hand $1MM over the $10MM figure he was due on his option.

It’s not a surprise the small-budget Indians are moving on from the Santanas, at least at those prices. Carlos Santana has spent all but one season of his career in Cleveland since it began in 2010 and has performed quite well, but he’s now coming off a disappointing year. Santana’s keen eye at the plate did lead to more walks (47) than strikeouts (43), but his average and power declined significantly en route to a .199/.349/.350 line with eight home runs in 255 PA. Even with another effective season, it would have been difficult to imagine the Indians keeping the 34-year-old for such a lofty fee.

The Indians took a chance last free agency on Domingo Santana, who once looked like a breakout hitter with the Brewers. Santana struggled late in 2019 with the Mariners, though, and that carried into this year. He gave the Indians a horrid .157/.298/.286 line with a paltry two HRs in 84 PA.

It’s not at all eyebrow-raising that the Indians are moving on from Hand, as they placed him on outright waivers Thursday. The move came as a shock at the time, though Hand nonetheless cleared waivers instead of saving the Indians from a buyout. He’ll head to free agency as a 30-year-old with an outstanding track record, including three All-Star appearances. Hand’s now fresh off a season in which he led baseball in saves (16, with no blown chances), put up a magnificent 2.05 ERA/1.37 FIP and posted 11.86 K/9 against 1.64 BB/9 in 22 innings.

Perez was one of the game’s top all-around catchers as recently as 2019, but a right shoulder injury limited his appearances and his effectiveness this year. However, despite slashing a woeful .165/.264/.216 with one HR over 110 PA, the Indians are keeping him in the fold. As things stand, they have two light-hitting, defensively gifted backstops in Perez and Austin Hedges, who could combine to make in the $8.5MM neighborhood in 2021.

Cleveland bought low on Santana this winter, signing him to a one-year, $1.5MM contract with a 2021 club option after he was non-tendered by the Mariners. The hope was surely that he could rebound closer to the .278/.371/.505, 30-homer form he showed with Milwaukee in 2017, but Santana struggled through one of the worst showings of his career with his new club. Appearing in 24 games and taking 84 plate appearances, the 28-year-old hit just .157/.298/.286 with a pair of homers and three doubles.

Santana did manage a hearty 15.5 percent walk rate, but he also struck out in 30 percent of his plate appearances. Meanwhile, his average exit velocity was down 3.5 mph from its 2019 levels, per Statcast, and his hard-hit rate fell by seven percent. He might return later this month, but suffice it to say, his $5MM club option won’t be picked up.

The 32-year-old Elmore signed a minor league deal with the Indians back in early July and spent Summer Camp with the team, but he has not been called up from their alternate site to this point. Elmore has appeared in 217 games at the big league level and logged 527 plate appearances.

Though he’s just a .215/.292/.275 hitter in that time, Elmore has demonstrated as much versatility as anyone in baseball. In 2013, the Astros used him at every position on the diamond — including catcher and pitcher. Elmore has at least 106 innings at all four infield spots, 234 innings in the outfield (including 14 in center) and has also caught 4 1/3 innings and pitched two frames (one run allowed) in the Majors.

The 28-year-old Santana joined the Indians last winter for $1.5MM off back-to-back lackluster seasons with the Brewers and Mariners, but his attempt at a rebound hasn’t worked in 2020. Before the Indians booted him from their roster, Santana batted .157/.298/.286 with a pair of home runs in 84 plate appearances. His contract includes a $5MM option for 2021, but considering his production so far, the Indians surely would’ve bought him out for $250K had they kept him in the fold.

In the event that the Indians get something resembling the 2017 version of Santana, it’ll go down as one of the shrewdest bargain signings of the offseason. As a member of the Brewers that year, Santana batted .278/.371/.505 (127 wRC+) with 30 home runs, 15 stolen bases and 3.3 fWAR in 607 plate appearances. Santana crashed to earth the next year, though, and the Brewers traded him to the Mariners during the ensuing offseason.

At first, the Santana pickup looked like a wise move by the Mariners. Santana was an effective offensive player during the first half of the season, but thanks in part to a nagging right elbow injury, his production tanked from July onward. Santana wound up posting a .253/.329/.441 line (good for a 107 wRC+) with 21 homers and eight steals over 507 PA. That’s not going to cut it for someone who was inept in the field, where he accounted for a horrific minus-16 Defensive Runs Saved and a minus-16.1 Ultimate Zone Rating. Santana’s defensive troubles helped overshadow his passable performance at the plate, rendering him a replacement-level player (0.0 fWAR). As a result, the Mariners non-tendered Santana during the winter in lieu of paying him a projected $4.4MM in arbitration.

Based on the numbers he put up from 2018-19, Santana’s days as an impact contributor could be over. And he didn’t help himself during spring training before it shut down, collecting twice as many strikeouts as hits (10 to five) in an admittedly small sample size consisting of 25 trips to the plate. That said, there may be at least some hope for a revival on the offensive side. As mentioned, Santana’s elbow failed him in 2019 and had a hand in his horrid second-half output, so staying healthy this year would bode well for a rebound. Plus, it’s worth noting that Santana fared rather nicely in multiple Statcast categories as a Mariner. He ranked in the league’s 69th percentile in hard-hit rate and expected weighted on-base average (.347, compared to a .326 real wOBA), and in its 74th percentile in expected slugging percentage (.492). Santana also finished with an excellent .483 xwOBA on contact.

One clear issue for Santana is that he had great difficulty actually putting the bat on the ball last year, finishing 11th worst among 135 qualifiers in contact percentage (69.9) and dead last in strikeout rate (32.3). But an overwhelming amount of strikeouts is what everyone has come to expect from Santana, who has fanned 32 percent of the time since he debuted in the majors in 2014. Even in his career-best 2017, Santana went down on strikes at a 29 percent-plus clip. However, he helped offset that to some degree with a 12.5 percent walk rate – a number that dipped below 10 percent in each of the previous two seasons.

Along with better health and amassing more walks, it seems Santana’s value to the Indians will increase if they keep him away from the field. For the most part, Santana has been a defensive nightmare in the bigs, having recorded minus-37 DRS and a minus-31.2 UZR. He should see a lot of DH time in Cleveland, which ought to aid in maximizing his value, but one problem for the club is that it has a similar corner outfielder in Franmil Reyes. He’s another powerful, high-strikeout, defensively challenged player. At least one of those two will be in the outfield on a regular basis, and that probably doesn’t sound too appealing if you’re a member of Cleveland’s pitching staff.

Considering Santana’s defensive shortcomings, the Indians couldn’t have taken a flier on the 27-year-old expecting him to hold his own in the field. Instead, the hope for the Indians is that Santana will reach his previous heights as a hitter, and it wouldn’t be entirely surprising to see him at least log respectable numbers at the plate if his health holds up. The team’s paying Santana relatively little, so he shouldn’t have much trouble living up to his deal.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Let’s begin with the one everyday lock in Oscar Mercado, though Mercado’s actual position on a game-by-game basis could be in flux.  The 25-year-old is coming off a solid rookie season that saw him perform decently well at the plate (95 wRC+, 96 OPS+) and impressively well with the glove in 698 2/3 innings in center field — +6 Outs Above Average, +5.8 UZR/150, +9 Defensive Runs Saved.  It’s safe to assume that Mercado will get the lion’s share of time in center again in 2020, though his ability to play all three positions will allow manager Terry Francona to shift other players into the outfield based on matchups.

Those other players?  It’s quite a long list:

• Delino DeShields: Depending on your defensive metric of choice, DeShields was either slightly behind (UZR/150, DRS) Mercado in defensive value last season, or ahead (Statcast ranked DeShields tied for fifth among all outfielders in baseball with +12 OAA in 2019), plus DeShields has a longer track record of outstanding glovework.  It stands to reason that DeShields will handle center when Mercado is used in the corners, though it remains to be seen if DeShields will hit enough to move beyond mere fourth-outfielder duty.  The 27-year-old hit only .246/.326/.342 over 1936 career plate appearances with the Rangers, though it’s possible the change of scenery from Texas to Cleveland could help.
• Domingo Santana: Signed to a one-year MLB contract (with a 2021 club option) earlier this week, Santana is decidedly not an option in center field, and even the corner outfield might be a stretch for a player who posted some of the worst defensive numbers of any player in baseball.  If Santana does indeed end up being used mostly as a designated hitter, the fact that he was signed at all could hint at the Tribe’s belief that…
• Franmil Reyes is capable of better things as a right fielder after two seasons of mediocre fielding.  Acquired as part of the three-team Trevor Bauer blockbuster last summer, Reyes hit .249/.310/.512 with 37 home runs over 548 PA between the Padres and Indians in 2019.  The power is already there and the overall hitting potential has shown some flashes of improvement, and though Cleveland used Reyes almost exclusively at DH after the trade, the team surely hopes that they can get at least a couple of seasons’ worth of passable fielding work from Reyes to maximize his overall roster value (even if a mostly-DH role is ultimately in his future).
• Jordan Luplow: Among all qualified hitters in 2019, only J.D. Martinez and Alex Bregman had a higher wRC+ against left-handed pitching than Luplow, who crushed southpaws to the tune of a .320/.439/.742 slash line and 198 wRC+ over 155 PA.  Even with other big righty bats like Santana and Reyes on hand, Luplow’s incredible splits will ensure that he’ll at least see platoon action, and Luplow has the added defensive edge of being able to play the corners decently well (and could even handle center field in a pinch).  If Luplow is to play a larger role, he’ll have to greatly improve his desultory .596 career OPS over 225 PA against right-handed pitching.
• Greg Allen: The switch-hitting Allen offers a bit of balance to all of these right-handed hitters, though he hasn’t much from either side of the plate over 586 Major League plate appearances.  Allen can technically play all three outfield positions, though his glovework in the corners is much more highly regarded than his performance in center field.  Assuming at least one of the left-handed bats remaining on this listing emerges, Allen may find himself beginning the 2020 season in the minors.
• Tyler Naquin: He likely won’t factor into the Opening Day picture, as much as Naquin is making excellent progress after suffering a torn ACL at the end of August.  Still, Naquin looks on pace to return on the shorter end of his original seven-to-nine month recovery period, which adds another left-handed bat to the Indians’ mix.  2019 was shaping up as easily Naquin’s best season since his 2016 rookie year, so a post-hype breakout might yet be in the cards for Naquin if he can get healthy.
• Jake Bauers: Acquired as part of last offseason’s three-team deal that brought Carlos Santana back to Cleveland, Bauers’ first year with the Tribe was a disaster, as he posted an overall sub-replacement season (-0.4 fWAR) while struggling at both the plate and in the field.  Bauers is still only 24 years old and is a former top-100 prospect, so it’s clearly far too early for the Indians to give up on him, but he’ll be on a much shorter leash than last season.
• Bradley Zimmer: Speaking of former top prospects, Zimmer missed almost all of the 2018-19 seasons due to shoulder surgery.  MLB.com ranked Zimmer as the 22nd-best prospect in baseball entering the 2017 campaign, but a forgettable rookie season and then his extended injury absence turned Zimmer from building block to afterthought.  He could be the biggest wild card of any player on this list, assuming Zimmer is healthy.
• Daniel Johnson: A part of the three-player package the Indians received from the Nationals in the November 2018 Yan Gomes trade, Johnson’s first season in Cleveland’s farm system was a successful one, as he hit .290/.361/.507 over 547 combined PA at the Double-A and Triple-A levels.  MLB.com’s scouting report notes that Johnson’s strong throwing arm and overall defense alone could earn him steady work as a fourth outfielder at the big league level, so if he can manage to hit as well, there’s certainly room for Johnson gain playing time with the Tribe.

One bit of good news for the Indians in sorting out all these players is that they don’t face any specific roster crunch, as Santana is the only one of these players who no longer has a minor league option.  That affords Francona and the front office the opportunity to freely evaluate these players during Spring Training without feeling forced into a tough roster choice based on team control.  Given the sheer number of outfielders on hand, it also wouldn’t be entirely shocking if the Tribe dealt away from this surplus.  If a few of these names really stand out during camp, Cleveland might feel comfortable enough in its depth to consider one of the other players expendable if another outfield-needy team came calling with an interesting trade offer.

Still just 27 years old, Santana was an offensive force with the Brewers as recently as 2017, when he slashed .278/.371/.505 with 30 home runs and 29 doubles (good for a 126 OPS+ and 127 wRC+). However, Santana was the beneficiary of a .363 average on balls in play that year, punched out in nearly 30 percent of his plate appearances and played a below-average right field. It’s impossible to say whether those traits gave the Brewers concern about his ability to produce moving forward or whether the team simply found the value in a pair of marquee offseason acquisitions too great to pass up. Regardless, Santana was effectively pushed to a bench role the following year after Milwaukee traded for Christian Yelich and signed Lorenzo Cain to join Ryan Braun in the outfield.

The 2018 season wasn’t a great one for Santana. One can point to the fact that he was already a regression candidate or suggest that his newfound limited role was a difficult adjustment. Whatever the reason, Santana’s .265/.328/.412 slash through 235 plate appearances marked a substantial downturn. He was traded to the Mariners for Ben Gamel last winter.

In Seattle, Santana once again found himself in a near-regular role, and his production bounced back to an extent. In 507 plate appearances, he hit .253/.329/.441 with 21 homers, 20 doubles and a triple. It wasn’t the same level of pop that he displayed in 2017, but it was a nice bounceback effort all the same. Santana’s strikeout rate only worsened, though, as he fanned in 32.3 percent of his trips to the plate. And, his already shaky glovework bottomed out in 2019 when defensive metrics graded him as one of baseball’s worst defenders at any position (-17 Defensive Runs Saved, -16.1 Ultimate Zone Rating, -13 Outs Above Average).

Santana’s fit in Cleveland is admittedly something of a curious one, as the Indians already have an extremely similar player in Franmil Reyes. Both lumbering, defensively-challenged sluggers hit from the right side of the dish and profile better as a designated hitter than as an outfielder. Santana draws more walks and runs slightly better; Reyes has more power, strikes out a bit less and boasted 99th-percentile marks in exit velocity and hard-hit rate in 2019. Overall, they bring comparable skill sets to an already-crowded Indians outfield mix (though Reyes would seem to have more offensive upside).

Oscar Mercado should have center field locked down after a strong debut campaign in 2019, leaving Santana and Reyes as two options in the outfield corners. The problem is that right-handed-hitting Jordan Luplow is also in the corner mix, and his otherworldly production against lefties should at least ensure him a platoon role. Cleveland also acquired Delino DeShields Jr. — another right-handed bat — in the Corey Kluber salary dump. The switch-hitting Greg Allen is in the mix, too, as are lefty-swinging Jake Bauers, Bradley Zimmer and (once recovered from last year’s ACL tear) Tyler Naquin.

Santana is an affordable addition to the fray, to be sure, and there’s little doubt that he deepens the club’s reservoir of options in the corners and at DH. That said, it’s also not clear that Santana is an upgrade over what they already had in house.

The Indians are in clear need of outfield help, but whether Santana will prove to be the solution is anyone’s guess. However, as recently as 2017 – a season he spent with the Brewers – Santana appeared to be a budding star. He slashed .278/.371/.505 with 30 home runs and 3.3 fWAR in 607 trips to the plate that year. Santana struggled the next season, though, and then the Brewers traded him to the Mariners in December 2018.

While Santana looked like an interesting pickup for rebuilding Seattle, he didn’t end up producing much in an M’s uniform. Although Santana’s season began well, a second-half elbow injury helped torpedo his numbers and limit him to an uninspiring .253/.329/.441 line with 21 homers in 507 PA. Worsening matters, Santana ranked as one of the game’s poorest outfielders, finishing with a minus-17 Defensive Runs Saved and a minus-16.1 Ultimate Zone Rating. His combination of so-so offense and disastrous defense held him to a replacement-level WAR output.

To Santana’s credit, he was a good defender as recently as 2018 (plus-6 DRS, plus-2.7 UZR). He’s also still just 27, and the Indians or any other team that signs Santana will be able to control him via arbitration through 2021. The Mariners could have done the same, but they elected to non-tender Santana in lieu of paying him a $4.4MM salary this year.

Should Santana join the Indians, he’d make for yet another flawed corner outfield possibility for the team. Aside from Jordan Luplow, whose solid production may have flown under the radar in 2019, there’s little in the way of clear answers for the club there. Franmil Reyes (perhaps like Santana) is probably better off as a designated hitter; Jake Bauers and Greg Allen offered subpar production last year; Tyler Naquin suffered a torn ACL in August and will miss some portion of 2020; and Bradley Zimmer barely played last season as a result of shoulder troubles.

These moves open a pair of roster spots for the M’s to work with. It’ll also save a bit of salary space. The former projected to earn $4.4MM in his second-to-last season of team control, while the latter might have commanded $3.0MM in what would have been a walk year.

It rates as something of a surprise to see Santana cut loose. He has had his ups and downs over the years but generally turns in solid offensive output. The situation with Beckham is more one of disappointment. He had been playing well in Seattle before a performance-enhancing drug suspension cut short his 2019 campaign.

Santana could potentially be a candidate to be claimed, though obviously the M’s were unable to achieve a trade return. He was off to a big start with the bat in 2019 before running into elbow problems that drove his numbers down and ended up costing him a big chunk of time.

Still just 27 years of age, Santana owns a .259/.343/.453 career batting line. He was right at that level last year as well. Unfortunately, Santana has never quite found his footing in the field. He graded terribly last year.

Beckham isn’t ever going to be the kind of player that was hoped when he went first overall in the 2008 draft. But he has settled in as a generally useful middle infielder with a league-average bat. He might well have been worth the projected arb value but for the PED suspension.

Last winter was absolutely packed with trades for Dipoto, who shipped out Robinson Cano, Edwin Diaz, James Paxton, Jean Segura and Mike Zunino, among others. He has since parted with other established veterans in Edwin Encarnacion and Jay Bruce, who each joined the Mariners amid their blockbuster-filled offseason a year ago.

All of Dipoto’s wheeling and dealing has left the Mariners with just three players (second baseman Dee Gordon, third baseman Kyle Seager and left-hander Yusei Kikuchi) on guaranteed contracts. But Gordon is the only member of the trio who looks like a real trade candidate, Divish observes. Seager did enjoy a bounce-back campaign after a rough 2018, though he’s also a soon-to-be 32-year-old who’s owed $37MM over the next two seasons. Worse, his contract includes a clause that could make a trade an impossibility. As Divish covered last December, Seager’s $15MM club option for 2022 will become a player option if the Mariners deal him. In all likelihood, he’d exercise that option.

Like Seager, Kikuchi’s not going anywhere, having joined the M’s as their prized, big-money free-agent signing just last winter. Kikuchi went through a rough rookie season in 2019, but Seattle continues to regard him as a key long-term piece.

Gordon, meanwhile, looks superfluous to the club’s cause. Moving him would open up everyday second base duty for Shed Long, who was a bright spot for the Mariners in his first taste of the majors this year. The problem is that Gordon is still owed a guaranteed $14.5MM (including a $1MM buyout for 2021), which is an unpalatable amount when considering the 31-year-old’s recent output. The light-hitting Gordon has been a replacement-level player in each of the past two seasons, according to WAR. So, it’s probable that finding a taker for Gordon would require the Mariners to eat a portion of his contract. They’d “likely” pay half of his remaining money, per Divish, though it’s unclear whether that would be enough on their end. After all, there are several similarly or more productive veteran second basemen slated to reach free agency next month, and none of them should require sizable commitments.

Along with Gordon, outfielders Domingo Santana and Mallex Smith represent other potential trade candidates for Seattle, according to Divish. Dipoto acquired those two last winter, hoping they’d emerge as long-term building blocks, but both players disappointed this year. Thanks in part to elbow problems, Santana’s offensive production fell off a cliff as the season progressed. He also ranked as one of the majors’ worst outfielders, finishing with minus-17 Defensive Runs Saved and a minus-16.1 Ultimate Zone Rating (minus-16.1). Smith looked like a breakout center fielder for the Rays in 2018, but despite his 46 stolen bases this year, he only rated as a replacement-level producer.

The Mariners would be selling low on Santana’s last two years of arbitration eligibility and Smith’s three, but it’s possible they already have replacements on hand. Mitch Haniger and Kyle Lewis figure to be their main corner outfielders for next season. Smith could still occupy center if he’s still on the team, though Braden Bishop, Jake Fraley and an outside pickup may all be in the mix for that spot, Divish relays. They’ll line up behind an infield consisting of Seager at third, J.P. Crawford at short, Gordon or Long at second and Austin Nola at first. The 29-year-old Nola didn’t make his major league debut until mid-June, but it appears he’ll stick around after hitting .269/.342/.454 with 10 home runs 1.5 fWAR in his first 267 trips to the plate in the bigs. He could hold down first until the promotion of prospect Evan White, which Divish suggests is sure to happen by midseason at the latest. Elsewhere on offense, Daniel Vogelbach is in line to reprise his DH role, Dylan Moore is the front-runner for a utility job and the productive Omar Narvaez and Tom Murphy are due to return behind the plate.

As for areas the Mariners actually could look to add to this winter, Dipoto cited pitching – both starters and relievers – as a need. It’s unclear just how much the Mariners will be willing to spend on a starter(s) to slot in with Kikuchi, Marco Gonzalez, Justus Sheffield and possibly Justin Dunn, though it seems doubtful they’ll be spending near the top of the market. In the case of the bullpen, Dipoto said the Mariners will be seeking “opportunity buys.” Dipoto took the same route last offseason when he signed Hunter Strickland, Cory Gearrin, Zac Rosscup and R.J. Alaniz to cheap contracts.

Odds are the Mariners won’t do anything this offseason that could realistically vault them into contention by 2020. With that in mind, chances are high they’ll increase their playoff drought to 19 years next season. However, thanks to the young talent the Mariners have collected (much of which joined the organization last winter), Dipoto believes they’re on the right track.

While the M’s are obviously out of contention, they’ll be glad to allow Santana a chance to see some more MLB pitching before the season wraps up. The club surely hoped he’d be joined by Mitch Haniger, but that’s not to be.

Both outfielders had promising campaigns hijacked by injuries. In Santana’s case, he posted a strong .286/.354/.496 batting line over his first 399 trips to the plate this year. But he was bothered by elbow soreness out of the All-Star break and slashed just .131/.240/.250 thereafter before going on the shelf.

The Mariners will bring Santana along slowly upon his return. The hope seems to be that he’ll carry some positive momentum headed into the offseason. Santana will be due a raise on his $1.95MM arbitration salary, with one more arb-eligible campaign still to come in 2021. It’s possible the M’s will discuss Santana in trade talks, though he may hold greater value to the Seattle organization as an affordable part of the outfield rotation and potential 2020 deadline trade piece.

More from around the AL West…

• Aaron Sanchez was scheduled to undergo shoulder surgery last Friday, Astros GM Jeff Luhnow said during his team’s pregame radio show today (hat tip to Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle).  Somewhat curiously, Luhnow had yet to be informed about any specifics on the procedure, or when Sanchez could potentially be back on the mound.  It was already known that Sanchez wouldn’t pitch again in 2019, though the lack of information regarding the severity of his shoulder issues tends to create some doubt that the right-hander will be ready for the start of the 2020 season.
• Joey Gallo is aiming to return to the Rangers’ lineup on September 20, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes.  Gallo will spend his last few remaining days on the injured list playing in simulated games and instructional league action, and will be activated prior to the Rangers’ game against the A’s on Friday if all goes well.  Gallo hit .276/.421/.653 with 17 homers over his first 214 plate appearances before a variety of injuries waylaid his dream season.  He missed over three weeks with an oblique problem, and then struggled with wrist issues for the better part of a month before undergoing hamate bone surgery on July 25.
• Another early-season star will also return to the field before the end of the season, as Domingo Santana is expected to be activated off the IL on Tuesday, MLB.com’s Greg Johns writes.  The Mariners outfielder was (retroactively) placed on the IL due to right elbow inflammation on August 19, after struggling with elbow problems for roughly a month beforehand.  Santana’s injury problems almost perfectly coincide with the All-Star break, as he hit .286/.354/.496 in 399 first-half plate appearances, but then only .131/.240/.250 in 97 PA in the second half.  That July slump was one of the reasons Santana wasn’t dealt at the trade deadline, despite interest from multiple teams.

Santana has quietly become one of the more potent bats in the Seattle lineup this season. It was at least a little surprising that Trader Jerry didn’t field further trade calls for him at the deadline, but with two more years of arbitration eligibility and plenty of near-term financial flexibility, the Mariners felt no pressure to move him. For his part, Santana is better suited for regular at-bats on a non-contender like Seattle until he can add some dimensionality to his game.

The hulking 6’5″ outfielder has DH’ed on occasion, but mostly splits his time evenly between left and right field. Defensive metrics are slightly more enamored with his work in right, but it’s a negligible difference in the grand scheme of things (-8 DRS to -7 DRA, -23.7 UZR/150 to -17.8 UZR/150). Regardless of where they stick him, Santana has not provided any additional value with the glove.

With the bat, Santana looks the part of middle-of-the-order slugger. Towering presence is a check, home run output is a check (21 on the year), and his overall batting line of .256/.332/.449 sticks the landing with an above-average 110 wRC+ – right in range of his career average (112 wRC+). When he connects, Santana does damage (above-average 42.5% hard-hit percentage), but getting bat-to-ball remains a struggle. Santana, 27, tops the league with 159 strikeouts, striking out in 32.1% of his at-bats – the highest percentage in the majors.

Fraley, 24, will prepare for his major league debut. A native of Frederick, MD about 45 miles north of Washington DC, Fraley is a former 2nd round selection of by Tampa Bay and the current #8 ranked prospect in Seattle’s system per MLB.com. Speed and defense are his calling cards, but after injuries slowed his progress in 2017, power has begun populating in-game for Fraley. His isolated power has increased with each new rung of the minor league ladder, from .200 ISO in High-A to .226 ISO in Double-A to .276 ISO across 168 plate appearances for Triple-A Tacoma this season. Fraley joined the Mariners this past winter as part of the Mike Zunino deal.

Fun fact for your trivia guides from MLB.com’s Greg Johns (via Twitter), Fraley will be the 17th Mariner to debut in the major leagues this season.