Santana brings power to rebuilding Phillies
Carlos Santana is bringing his big bat and postseason experience to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Santana, 31, a first baseman, became the first of the offseason’s big-name free agents to find a new home, agreeing to a $60 million, three-year contract with the Phillies. The agreement is contingent on Santana passing a physical.
Santana became the first to reach a deal among the nine free agents who recently rejected $17.4 million qualifying offers from their former teams.
Santana hit 23 home runs with 79 RBIs for Cleveland, where he spent all eight of his big-league seasons. He started as a catcher in 2010 and shifted to first base in 2015.
Philadelphia also traded shortstop Freddy Galvis to San Diego for minor league pitcher Enyel De Los Santos, and finalized two-year deals with relievers Tommy Hunter ($18 million) and Pat Neshek ($16.25 million)
Santana, who has a .249 career batting average and .445 slugging percentage, is expected to play first base for Philadelphia. Slugger Rhys Hoskins would stay in left field, giving the Phillies a surplus of outfielders to use as trade bait for starting pitching.
Under baseball’s new labor contract, Cleveland gets an extra draft pick after the first round in June, and Philadelphia loses its secondhighest selection and forfeits $500,000 of international signing bonus allotment for the 2018-19 signing period.
Despite finishing last in the National League East Division at 66-96, the Phillies improved in the second half as young players such as Hoskins, Crawford, Nick Williams and Jorge Alfaro joined the lineup. They were 35-35 in the final 70 games and 39-37 overall against NL East opponents.
Angels
All-Star infielder Zack Cozart agreed to a $38 million, three-year contract with Los Angeles, also agreeing to play third base in an infield suddenly packed with veteran talent. “It’s just going to be a fun team to be around,” Cozart said. Cozart gets $12,666,666 next season and $12,666,667 in each of the final two years of the deal. With Gold Glove winner Andrelton Simmons already at shortstop, Angels general manager Billy Eppler initially was interested in signing Cozart to play second base for the Angels. But then Eppler managed to swing a trade Wednesday to acquire second baseman Ian Kinsler from Detroit. The Angels still maintained their pursuit of Cozart, but now to be their starting third baseman.
Yankees
CC Sabathia agreed to a one-year, $10 million deal to remain in New York. Sabathia, 37, made $25 million last year when he went 14-5 with a 3.69 earned-run average. He has a 237-146 career record in 17 seasons with Cleveland, Milwaukee and New York.
Dodgers
Matt Kemp is returning to Los Angeles as part of a fiveplayer trade with Atlanta that includes cash. The Dodgers send first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, pitchers Scott Kazmir and Brandon McCarthy and infielder Charlie Culberson to Atlanta. Gonzalez was designated for assignment by the Braves.
Cubs
Chicago finalized a twoyear contract with side-arming reliever Steve Cishek. Cishek, 31, had a 2.01 ERA and a 3-2 record in 49 relief appearances for Seattle and Tampa Bay. He joins a Cubs bullpen that also includes fellow right-hander Brandon Morrow, who inked a $21 million, two-year contract Tuesday.
Rangers
Texas acquired Matt Moore in a trade with San Francisco, raising the possibility of four left-handers in the Rangers rotation. “As far as the four lefties, generally it’s a good thing,” Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. Texas sent minor league right-handers Israel Cruz and Sam Wolff to the Giants. The Rangers also received $750,000 in international signing bonus pool allotment from the Giants.