The Washington Nationals were apparently in on Carlos Santana, until the free agent first baseman decided to sign with the Kansas City Royals.
A slow moving free agent market started to speed up a little this week, with a few names being signed to contracts. One name off the board is Carlos Santana, a guy rumored to have been of interest to the Washington Nationals.
Santana recently signed a 2 YR/$17.5M deal with the Kansas City Royals and sends the Nationals back to the free agent pool still trying to fill their own first base vacancy.
When MLB Trade Rumors released their Top 50 Free Agents of the offseason, Santana was listed as the 38th best option. I felt like he was openly disrespected in this regard. At the $6M they were predicting him being signed at, I felt the Nationals should take a flier on the guy.
The Nationals were one of the teams that pursued Carlos Santana before he signed with the Royals on Tuesday, according to people with knowledge of Santana's free agency. Santana ultimately landed a two-year, $17.5 million deal with KC.
— Jesse Dougherty (@dougherty_jesse) December 9, 2020
All Santana does is get on base. Twice he has led the league in walks. Twice in the last five years he has hit over 30 doubles and 30 home runs in the same season. As an All-Star in 2019, he scored 110 runs while driving in 93. He is a run producer, who hits from both sides of the plate.
Hearing the Nationals were in on Santana prior to him signing with KC leaves us wondering what it was that scared the Washington brass away. Did they not want to commit to a second year? Did they not want to spend $17M over two years? Is this an indication of how the offseason will unfold for the Nationals? Will they be unwilling to pay for the talent and rather hold out to see who the bargain players at the bottom of the barrel are?
Likely, we will not have the answers to these questions until the offseason unfolds a little more. Guys like Mitch Moreland, C.J. Cron, and Jake Lamb, are still available as possible fits at first base.
Good for Carlos Santana for locking down a job the next two years. I would have loved to have seen him in a Nationals uniform, though since we can’t, I’m glad he’ll be hitting in the American League and not against the Nationals.