According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, veteran slugger slugger Carlos Santana is set to sign a one-year deal with the Minnesota Twins. The deal will be worth just over $5 million. That deal clearly could come together because of the money the Twins saved in the Jorge Polanco-Mariners trade.
Per Heyman:
Carlos Santana Twins deal: $5.25M plus incentives
We had heard earlier in the offseason that Santana was drawing interest from the Milwaukee Brewers, Mariners and Pittsburgh Pirates, but he ultimately lands with the Twins, where he'll provide coverage at both designated hitter and first base.
Soon to be 38-years-old, Santana hit .240 a season ago with 23 home runs across his two stops with the Pirates and Brewers. He helped Milwaukee get to the playoffs after a midseason trade. He did the same thing for Seattle in 2022 and is known as a good clubhouse presence.
Lifetime, Santana is a .242 hitter with 301 homers across 14 years with the Indians, Phillies, Royals, Mariners, Pirates and Brewers.
He spent 10 years in Cleveland, helping them get to the World Series in the 2016 season. He was also an All-Star in the 2019 season, and he won a Silver Slugger that same year.
The interesting thing about Santana's signing is that it leads to questions about the health of guys like Alex Kirilloff and Jose Miranda. Both players had surgery in the offseason and we recently got updates on them. Considering both of them can play first base, are there further concerns that we didn't realize?
The Twins won the American League Central a season ago and lost to the Houston Astros in the ALDS.
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