Guess I Was Right About Carlos Santana

I usually paint myself as a moron, so please allow me to toot my own horn for a moment. Baseball America does the best job of summing up what i'm talking about.

"Santana, who joined the Indians in the deal that sent Casey Blake to the Dodgers, was batting a combined .329/.432/.568 through 114 games between Inland Empire of the hitter-friendly California League and Kinston of the Carolina League."

What they don't mention is that Santana has actually been better with the Indians affiliate than he was in the California League. So much for his numbers being a product of the league, huh?

"'Even a little bit better than advertised,' farm director Ross Atkins said.

'What I didn't anticipate from someone who's high school-educated and doesn't speak the English language very well is his intelligence and leadership that stand out on the field?his passion for catching, his passion just for the game.'

'He keeps the same intensity level, regardless of the score, regardless of his offensive performance. And those are just innate, natural leadership abilities that he may not even realize he has.'"

Wait, I thought Ned Colletti was supposed to like "gamers" with "leadership abilities" and "intangibles"? Welp, I guess that only applies to players who are older than 35.

"The 5-foot-11, 188-pound backstop said he tries to emulate Martinez as a hitter and the Dodgers' Russell Martin as a catcher. His athleticism has helped him stand out quickly as he's continued to refine his defensive abilities. The result, even on short notice, is a polished backstop.

'He moves well back there,' Kinston manager Chris Tremie said. 'His hands are pretty soft. He needs to make some adjustments with them, but it's adjustments that, when you watch him catch, I think he'll easily make.'

Kinston sinkerballer Carlton Smith said Santana already had grasped many of the crucial nuances of catching, such as blocking balls in the dirt, calling pitches according to the strengths of the guy on the mound and framing strikes just off the corner.

And the arm? Smith, a righthander, smiled. 'Absolute hose,' he said."

And now I want to cry. Almost seriously, because the Dodgers wouldn't have even had to include Santana in the Blake trade if Frank McCourt wasn't such a cheap fuck.