The White Sox are in the final phases of signing aging right-hander Ervin Santana to a minor-league deal. The news broke as Manny Machado was explaining how excited he is to move to San Diego, and twisting the knife deeper into the White Sox’s fanbase flank.
Ervin Santana to white sox, pending physical. Minors deal. Camp invite.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 22, 2019
The hits just keep coming. Santana was once a very good starting pitcher and had a career year in 2017 with a 3.28 earned run average and his second all-star appearance. Yet, he couldn’t follow that up in 2018. Santana was sidelined early last spring with a “wear-and-tear” injury that required surgery and shelved him for 10-12 weeks. After a much longer recovery than expected, Sanatan hit the mound in late July only to rejoin the DL in mid-August. Over five games in 2018 Santana managed an 8.03 ERA.
The finger injury appears to have been calcium deposits, but lingering pain coupled with the assertion of an over-use injury sends up red flags. Santana is 36 years old and the mileage on his arm/fingers doesn’t strike me as a win-now move. He is a two-time all star that has several quality seasons, but that appears to be behind him.
Even in 2016 and 2017, when he hit a stride in Minnesota, his FIP was higher than his ERA, suggesting he was the benefactor of good fortune more than quality pitching. Moreover, his career WHIP is 1.269. He has the propensity to get lit up and get wild from time to time, a recipe for disappointment without a dynamite cast behind him.
With the deal essentially being a tryout, there is little risk to the White Sox. If he shows signs of deterioration Sox brass could waive or holster him in triple-A. Still, this is merely a ripple in the offseason pond of free-agent signings. And while the Sox were meteing out a deal with Santana, Machado was slipping on a Padres jersey.
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In other news, the White Sox announced they settled contracts with 27 other players on Friday.
White Sox agree to terms with 27 players on 2019 contracts. All members of their 40-man are under contract for the 2019 season.
— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) February 22, 2019
The Top 3 of those 27 signing: Reynaldo Lopez at $580,000, Yoan Moncada at $575,000 and Lucas Giolito at $573,000
— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) February 22, 2019
