MLB Roundup 12/18: Carlos Santana signs with the Phillies

Carlos Santana signs with the Phillies

Well, one of the few major(ish) targets that the Red Sox had been credibly linked to this winter is officially off the market after Carlos Santana signed a three-year, $60 million contract with the Phillies. It was a bit of a surprising move as Philadelphia is seemingly still in the end of their rebuilding phase and Santana doesn’t really fit that window. Of course, we’ve seen teams jump out of their rebuild a year or two earlier than expected in recent seasons and if nothing else Santana is a good veteran to have around young hitters. He would have also been a tremendous fit in Boston’s lineup as well, as I’ve written about on this very webpage before. According to reports, the Red Sox did make a final offer to Santana but it came in lower than Philadelphia’s. On the one hand, it’s disappointing to see such a seemingly ideal target come off the board. It wasn’t even that bad of a price, though the AAV was fairly steep particularly when you combine it with the fact that Santana also costs his team a draft pick. The good news is that J.D. Martinez is still out there and the possibility still exists that Boston gets the top target.

Zack Cozart signs with the Angels

In another mid-level agreement over the weekend, the Angels continued a strong offseason by signing former Reds shortstop Zack Cozart. Of course, Los Angeles already has the best defensive shortstop in the world in Andrelton Simmons, so they move Cozart, a Gold Glove-caliber shortstop in his own right, to third base. This team has now added a tremendous amount of talent to their major-league roster and are looking more and more like a legitimate contender, not only in the wildcard race but also the American League West. It’s nice to see Mike Trout get some real help for once, and as much as I’d prefer the Red Sox to just roll through the A.L. this league is going to be a blast this year.

• The Yankees made another signing by bringing C.C. Sabathia back on a one-year deal. This is bad news for the Red Sox because the veteran lefty owned Boston to an absurd degree in 2017. He allowed just three runs over 26 innings (1.04 ERA) while holding the Sox to a .480 OPS. So, uh, yeah. Do better.
• You may recall Dustin Fowler from his Yankees debut this year when he suffered a major knee injury just a couple of outs into his major-league debut. Now, he is suing the White Sox for not padding the electrical box which caused the damage. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out and it could potentially lead to ownerships being more liable for safety measures in their stadiums.
• The Dodgers and Braves made a wild, salary-influenced trade in which Matt Kemp was sent to Los Angeles in exchange for a bunch of contracts including that of Adrian Gonzalez. Essentially, it was made to save the Braves some money a few years from now while reducing the Dodgers’ luxury tax calculation and allowing them to load up for next year’s free agent class. The new CBA is going to make these kind of money trades more and more common as time goes on, I’d think.