Former Indians slugger Carlos Santana joins Royals on two-year free-agent deal
The Kansas City Royals and free-agent slugging first baseman Carlos Santana agreed on a two-year contract Tuesday.
The Royals did not announce terms, but Santana is slated to make $17.5 million over two years plus up to an additional $1 million in performance bonuses, according to a source with knowledge of the deal.
Royals general manager Dayton Moore said adding a “middle-of-the-order” bat was one of the club’s objectives this offseason, and Santana was one of their primary targets. His name came up in internal discussions and planning meetings back in the summer.
“Obviously, we’ve admired Carlos for a long time in this division,” Moore said. “We watched him develop and mature into a middle-of-the-order productive hitter, a winning type player, and we’re just very grateful that he’s going to be a part of our organization.”
The front office had a track record with Santana, specifically assistant general manager in charge of international operations Rene Francisco, who signed Santana as an amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic when Francisco served as head of international scouting for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2004.
The switch-hitting Santana, who’ll turn 35 next season, hit a career-high 34 home runs for the Indians in 2019, batting .281 with a .397 on-base and .515 slugging percentage. He only hit .199 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season but hit eight home runs in 60 games, walked an American League-leading 47 times against 43 strikeouts, and put up a .349 on-base percentage.
He led the majors with 113 walks in 2014 and has a career slash line of .248/.366/.446 and 240 home runs in 11 big-league seasons.
“It’s obviously a shortened season,” Moore said of Santana’s 2020 statistics. “The on-base skill was still very good. The hard-hit was down a little bit, but there was still enough data there for our research and develop staff to feel comfortable going forward with the projections. Our scouting judgment was very strong on him. He was at the top of the list of the bats that we were looking to acquire.”
Last week following the signing of center fielder Michael A. Taylor, Moore said, “We’re not done with trying to add to our lineup with more guys that can get on base and give us a professional at-bat.”
With the addition of Santana and the club having non-tendered third baseman Maikel Franco last week, it appears that infielder/outfielder Hunter Dozier will likely move back to third base and clear the way for Santana to be the club’s everyday first baseman.
Moore said Dozier will play third base as well as get time in the outfield and first base next season.
Since the start of December, the Royals have signed left-handed starting pitcher Mike Minor to a two-year deal, Santana to a two-year deal and Taylor to a one-year deal.
The short-term deals were strategically structured in order to give the Royals payroll flexibility with several key young players entering their arbitration-eligible years.
Santana’s deal is slated to pay him $7 million in base salary for 2021 and $10.5 million in 2022, while Minor’s features a similarly back-loaded breakdown with $7 million in 2021 and $10 million in 2022.
The Royals highest-paid players on their current roster, pitcher Danny Duffy ($15.5 million) and Salvador Perez ($13 million) can both become free agents at the end of the 2021 season as can designated hitter Jorge Soler, who agreed to a one-year deal worth $8.05 million last week.
Whit Merrifield’s contract, signed prior to the 2019 season, was also structured so that his base salary drops to $2.75 million in 2022.
This story was originally published December 8, 2020 at 1:36 PM.
