Royals, 1B Santana agree to $17M, 2-year deal
TheKansas KANSASCITY,MO.— City Royals and veteran fifirstbasemanCarlos Santana have agreed to a $17million, two-year contract that plugs one of their biggest offffffffffffensive holeswhile providing some clubhouse leadership for a rebuilding club.
MLB Network was first to report that the sides had reachedanagreementTuesday.
The 34-year-old Santana was an All-Star two years ago in Cleveland, when he hit a career-best .281 with 34 homers and 93 RBIs. But he slid to .199 with eight homers and30RBIswhileplaying 60 games during the shortened 2020 season, resulting in the Indians declining his $17.5 million option for the upcoming season.
The Royals were middleof-the-road with a .244 team average last season, but they hit just 68 home runs and were tied with — coincidentally — the Indians for the sixth-worst scoring offffffffffffense in the majors.
“As we continue to evaluate and hopefully accomplish our offffffffffffseason objectives, we wanted to improve and get moredepth incenterfifield, we wantedtoaddstartingpitching andreliefpitchingandtrytoget animpact bat or two ifwe can in the middle of the lineup,” Royals generalmanager Dayton Moore said recently.
Rangers trade RHP Lynn to White Sox
The Chicago White Sox acquired a big workhorse for their starting rotation.
Lance Lynn was traded from the Texas Rangers to the White Sox on Tuesday for right-hander Dane Dunning and lefty AveryWeems. Thedealwas agreedto at the end of the day of Major LeagueBaseball’s virtual winter meetings.
LynnwasbereunitedinChicagowith newmanager Tony La Russa. Lynn was a rookie pitcher for the 2011 World SerieschampionSt. Louis Cardinals, who beat the Rangers in seven games in the last season La Russamanaged in the bigleaguesbeforereturningto the White Sox this offffffffffffseason.
The 6-foot-5, 250-pound Lynn was 22-14 in 46 starts the past two seasons for the Rangers, with 335 strikeouts over2921/3innings. Therighthander has an $8 million salary in 2021, the fifinal season of a $30 million, three-year contracthesignedwithTexas two winters ago.