Opposition Research: Carlos Santana

The Fortnite-hating former Phillies is back with the Guardians

Heading into the 2018 season, the Phillies wanted to show that they were ready to put their long rebuilding process behind them. Instead of the bargain bin free agent signings the team had been making the past few seasons, general manager Matt Klentak spent actual money on established players like Jake Arrieta, Pat Neshek, and Carlos Santana.

(These didn’t turn out to be great moves. Last year, I retroactively reviewed the Phillies’ 2018 offseason, and the D grade I awarded them might have been too generous.)

The Santana acquisition felt like a direct rebuke of the previous general manager. Ruben Amaro famously said that he didn’t care about walks, and Klentak went out and signed a guy whose best offensive ability was taking walks.

Fan opinion was split. Santana was very popular among the crowd who valued on-base percentage above all else. Others were confused by the move. If they were finally going to spend money on a free agent, why did they choose a player who didn’t have otherwise gaudy offensive numbers? Especially one who played the same position as the team’s emerging star.

First baseman Rhys Hoskins was called up at the end of the 2017 season and gave the fans something to be excited about by mashing 18 home runs in 50 games. The Phillies finally seemed to have a young star on their hands, and the team responded by signing a guy who played the same position.

The team expressed confidence that Hoskins could capably play left field (he couldn’t), and that the leadership and offensive boost that Santana provided would make up for the weakened defense (it didn’t).

Santana’s numbers during the 2018 were slightly underwhelming, and the most memorable thing Santana did with the Phillies didn’t come on the field. After leading the NL East as late as August 8th, the team went into an absolute free fall the remainder of the season. Rookie manager Gabe Kapler was utterly incapable of handling a clubhouse, and said he preferred to let players “police themselves.” Perhaps that can work with veteran-laden rosters, but with the young 2018 Phillies, it didn’t work.

As one of the veterans on the team, Santana tried to keep things in line and eventually got fed up. With the team in the midst of a losing streak, Santana found some of his teammates playing Fortnite in the clubhouse during a game. He didn’t react well.

To Klentak’s credit, he realized Santana was an awkward fit, and traded him – along with rookie J.P. Crawford, who Kapler was doing his best to ruin – to Seattle in exchange for a package headlined by Jean Segura. Santana was promptly traded back to Cleveland, where he had spent the first eight years of his career. Naturally, he went on to have a stellar season in which he was the AL’s Silver Slugger winner at first base.

Since then, Santana has bounced around the majors, playing for five different teams. He rejoined the Guardians as a free agent this past offseason, and after his customary slow start to the season, has been hot in May.

Now that Santana is hitting well, and the Guardians are in first place, it probably means that the televisions in their clubhouse are safe for the time being.

X-Men character of the series

Marrow

Marrow’s mutant power is controlled, accelerated bone growth. She can break off the excess bone to use as weapons and originally did so as a terrorist who wanted to kill both humans and Storm. (She had some decent justification for her anger, but that’s a bit extreme.) For vague comic-book reasons, she eventually joined the X-Men, which was often an uncomfortable fit for everyone.

Marrow had some rage issues (remember, she was originally a villain), and if I was going to choose any team member to smash a television, she’d probably be near the top of the list.

Additional thought about the series

There isn’t a lot of history between these teams, with only 25 games between them. I was surprised to see the Phillies had a winning record versus the Guardians, since Cleveland has taken two of three the last three times they’ve matched up.

Oddly, in April 2016, the Phillies, who finished with a 71-91 record, swept a three-game series from the eventual AL champion Indians. That series featured a home run by Freddy Galvis, and a six-inning, zero run outing from Vince Velasquez.

Speaking of Velasquez, the Guardians just outrighted him, so there’s no chance the Phillies get an opportunity to hit against their old “friend” this weekend.

Regardless of “Vinny Velo’s” status, this series should be a good litmus test for the Phillies. Both teams enter with identical 22-15 record and are coming in relatively hot.