Not even 24 hours after of a heart wrenching Game 7 World Series loss had passed and the Cleveland Indians were already back at work making sure one of their most important pieces will be back to attempt to win one more November game in 2017 as they picked up 1B/DH Carlos Santana’s $12 million option.
The move was a no-brainer and a formality at this point as the switch hitting 30 year old set a career high in homers (34), RBI (87) and OPS (except for his 46 game rookie year – .865).
Santana’s 132 wRC+ was good for third in the AL among first basement, behind sluggers like Miguel Cabrera and Edwin Encarnacion. So, there is no question that Santana will be worth the $12 million option, especially given the uncertainty and toss up resigning Mike Napoli would be for the Indians.
The next question is – should the Indians extend Santana one more time?
When the Indians rewarded Santana with his first contract (5 years/$21 million), he was a 26 year old catcher in 2012 after putting up a 124 wRC+ in his first full season. Concussions and the emergence of Yan Gomes knocked Santana out from behind the plate and he tried third base once but has settled in as the Indians first basement and DH.
Santana is set to hit the free agent market at the end 2017 and will enter the 2018 season at 32 years old, so he’s not exactly in the stage where the Indians typically lock up players. The Indians did, however, give Asdrubal Cabrera a two year extension in 2012 at the same time they signed Santana when Cabrera was 27. Santana said at the time he’d like to finish his career in Cleveland, calling it his “second home.”
There are not many examples of players like Santana getting extensions by the Indians going into their age 32 season and the only recent example is not a good one. DH Travis Hafner was given a 4 year/$57 million deal in 2007 at the age of 30 after he hit 42 homers and finished 8th in MVP voting in 2006.
There are a number of theories at what caused Hafner’s sharp decline after 2007 but Hafner’s tale along with the Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn signings are not a great argument for the Indians extending Santana beyond 2017. It’s possible a National League team would be interested in Santana because he is still a passable first basemen, though it’s unlikely Santana will be even that good by the time his next deal runs out. That doesn’t mean an NL team won’t try to sign him, plenty of NL teams make bad decisions with money and positional value.
Behind Santana, the Indians have Nellie Rodriguez and Bobby Bradley, who finished their seasons in Double-A Akron and High-A Lynchburg respectively. Bradley hit 29 homers at the age of 20 but struck out 170 times and Rodriguez 26 at age 22 but with 186 strikeouts. Both have real power, but don’t show the same ability to hit that Santana had coming up. Without Santana, the Indians would have to hope one of the two develops into a more disciplined hitter or they move someone without power, like Yandy Diaz to first base.
If the Indians don’t re-sign Santana after next season, they could open up some positional flexibility. Given that they had to play Santana in left field in the World Series to keep his and Napoli’s bat in the lineup, it wouldn’t be the worst thing for them to have rotating options at DH to maintain that flexibility and to keep help give different players semi-rest on some nights. Of course, you don’t build your team around potentially three or four October/November games in an NL park, you do it to win your division and league first. Players like Santana helped them do that this year.
He did post a .239 ISO this season, the highest of his career by a ton. He cut his K% to 14.4, a career low and his 14.4 BB% is still right around his norm, even if it dropped a bit. Guys with exceptional walk rates tend to age well as hitters, but we thought that about Swisher too, even if knee injuries played a part in his decline.
While he has a little more power, a player to keep an eye on this winter is Edwin Encarnacion. Santana would likely command just a bit less than what Encarnacion will get this winter or closer to it, if Santana has a big walk year. The 33 year old is mostly a DH, but played some first base out of necessity this year and is in line for a good payday despite his age and positional deficiencies.
MLB Trade Rumors believes Encarnacion will get something about four years and $57-68 million. Given his age and defense, it will likely be Santana’s last major payday, so his agent will push for four years and probably get him around the $55-60 million area depending on the kind of 2017 he has. If it’s anything like 2016, I would expect the Indians to give him the qualifying offer (if that still exists after the new CBA is negotiated) and let him walk. The Indians could try to convince him to take two years and $20-25 million but anything longer is typically out of their comfort zone, so 2017 could be Santana’s last in Cleveland.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
