Five days after trimming $6 million from their payroll with the Jorge Polanco trade, the Minnesota Twins put most of that money to use, signing free agent first baseman Carlos Santana to a one-year, $5.25 million contract. An official announcement and a corresponding 40-man roster move are expected from the team later this week.
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Functionally, the Polanco deal essentially morphs into a 5-for-1 swap, with the Twins getting outfield prospect Gabriel Gonzalez, major-league pitchers Justin Topa and Anthony DeSclafani and pitching prospect Darren Bowen from the Seattle Mariners in the trade and adding Santana with the money saved. That’s good value, but it doesn’t necessarily make the Twins a better 2024 team.
Santana will be 38 years old in April and is no longer the middle-of-the-lineup force he was for many years with the rival Cleveland Guardians — often at the Twins’ expense — but the ultra-disciplined switch-hitter with 301 career home runs fills a clear roster hole as a veteran bat able to platoon with Alex Kirilloff at first base and be part of the rotating designated hitter mix.
Like many left-handed hitters, Kirilloff has struggled to produce against left-handed pitchers, batting .207 with a .630 OPS in 157 career plate appearances. When facing lefties last season, the Twins often replaced Kirilloff in the lineup with right-handed hitter Donovan Solano. Rather than a reunion with the 36-year-old Solano, who remains unsigned, they’re filling that role with Santana.
Carlos Santana is the gift that keeps giving!
His 20th dinger of the season and 30th straight game reaching base!#RallyTogether pic.twitter.com/2yZdpK3ffC
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) July 13, 2019
Santana hit 23 homers in 146 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Milwaukee Brewers last season, matching Solano’s combined homer total over 450 games during the past five seasons. Beyond the substantial power upgrade, Santana is also a far better defensive first baseman and likely more capable of holding his own in an everyday role if Kirilloff is again unable to avoid the injured list.
Santana has averaged 152 games per full season since 2011, playing at least 130 games every season except 2020, when he played all 60 games in the pandemic-shortened campaign. However, his performance doesn’t necessarily warrant an everyday role at this stage of his career, as Santana was roughly a league-average hitter in 2023 (103 OPS+) and 2022 (100 OPS+) at positions with a higher bar.
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One of the most disciplined hitters of this era, Santana trails only Joey Votto in career walks among active players. His eye and contact skills have remained elite into his late 30s, totaling 65 walks with only 104 strikeouts last year. He makes pitchers work by grinding out deep counts, supplements his low batting average by getting on base via walks and still has enough power to punish mistakes.
Santana has always been better swinging from the right side, and recently his left-handed production has declined to the point that it’s not really an asset. He hit .200 with a .674 OPS against right-handers the past three years, including .231 with a .727 OPS in 2023, but the Twins have Kirilloff to take those starts at first base anyway and should have other left-handed options at DH as well.
But if spotted mostly versus left-handers, Santana can still make an impact. He hit .273 with a .767 OPS and as many walks as strikeouts facing lefties the past three years, including .266 with an .807 OPS in 2023. Just as Polanco’s exit sets the stage to platoon Julien and Kyle Farmer at second base, platooning Kirilloff against righties and Santana against lefties projects to work well at first base.
Carlos Santana's 300th career home run ties the game! pic.twitter.com/XtY19aoCXv
— MLB (@MLB) September 23, 2023
Santana is anything but an exciting or high-upside addition, but those generally aren’t found when shopping in the $5 million aisle. If viewed as the new Solano, and used in a part-time role facing mostly lefties, he can be productive and add a positive clubhouse reputation behind the scenes, solid value for a modest price tag. If asked to be an everyday player at age 38, he’s likely to underwhelm.
Now the question is whether the Twins are done adding bats. Santana uses up the money saved in the Polanco trade, but the payroll sits at just $123 million, nearly $35 million below last season’s mark. Santana fills the platoon job at first base and can also be part of the DH mix, but the Twins could still use a right-handed-hitting corner outfielder and/or Byron Buxton insurance in center field.
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There are still plenty of unsigned free agents who fit those descriptions. Tommy Pham, Jorge Soler, Adam Duvall and Randal Grichuk are right-handed-hitting corner outfielders who would complement lefty hitters Matt Wallner and Max Kepler. And a reunion with last season’s Buxton insurance, Michael A. Taylor, is still possible. There are trade options, too.
Those are the types of additions the Twins would be looking to make next if the goal was to build the most complete, functional lineup possible with, say, a $140 million payroll. But while that would still represent a big drop from last season’s $158 million payroll, the Twins have sent mixed signals about their willingness to spend at that reduced level even once the local television situation is resolved.
If he’s merely a small piece of the Twins’ lineup puzzle, with bigger pieces still to come, Santana fits as a low-upside but logical and cost-effective signing. But if instead Santana is the final lineup addition, and the Twins’ payroll winds up closer to $120 million than $150 million, fans would be justified in searching the box for the pieces missing from an incomplete, discount-rate puzzle.
(Top photo: Patrick McDermott / Getty Images)
