This is Carlos Santana's third stint in Cleveland. His first stint, he becomes a hero at catcher then at first and helps the team get to a World Series. His second stint lasts two years, but has an incredible comeback season in 2019 which culminates in a starting ASG job. In the seasons he's played elsewhere, he's notched 108 of his 326 career home runs, as well as a couple postseason runs. Last season, however, he accomplished arguably his biggest feat: winning a gold glove and becoming a contact-friendly defense-first guy.
Carlos Santana. The guy they call 'Slamtana'. He's now good at everything but power pretty much. He still hits home runs, he's got 2 so far this year, but now he's a gold glove 1st baseman, at 39, in the same defensive schematic as Steven Kwan, Austin Hedges and Brayan Rocchio. It makes a ton of sense having him back here as well, as the Guardians are a true contact team and Santana can crack those through still. And it's not like Santana is being relied upon heavily as a power bat right now- they have Kyle Manzardo and Lane Thomas for that, Santana can stick to his new strengths.
But it's still just...odd. Trading Josh Naylor is one piece of it, because there's a true masher, even if he's not great defensively. He's continuing that strong work in Arizona right now. And in his place is Santana, dulled at the plate and better at 1st. I think even with sentimentality involved, the Guardians fans would still prefer Naylor's bat to Santana's glove right now. A lot of their other constants, like Ramirez, Clase and Bibee, are letting them down at the moment, and that would be a nice one to still have. And Santana can still knock RBIs, but that's not really what he's been hired to do as much. It's the opposite of what happened to Jose Altuve, he went from being a killer contact guy to a home run hitter. Santana's defense and contact moments are nice, but I think a lot of people miss the 30 home guy. And he's not really that guy anymore. I expect 20, if that.
It sort of lampshades that even if the Guardians are doing well, and trending upward, there are these little flaws and nicks that keep them from being fully great right now. Emmanuel Clase is blowing saves left and right, which he never does. There's a lot of very okay starting performances right now, with only Gavin Williams and Logan Allen standing out. Ramirez has calmed down. Steven Kwan and the bullpen have been the highlights, and you can see some guys warming up. But it's not all the way there yet.
They beat the Yankees last night. That's a start. But right now the Tigers just look better, and they need to put a stop to that.
Coming Tonight: With Arenado probably leaving soon, this guy might be the central figure for the Cardinals. Which is honestly pretty cool.
“The land grows weary of its own”
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