Guardians legend facing sudden postseason-eligibility time crunch after Braves release  

At this time last year, Carlos Santana was playing out the final weeks of his time on the Guardians’ roster before his eventual release at the end of August. 

That same theme is playing out this year, albeit just a bit sooner in the calendar. 

On Sunday, the Atlanta Braves released Santana from his contract at their Triple-A affiliate in Gwinnett with the intention of giving him an opportunity to sign with a new team for the stretch run and postseason. 

A valiant effort, but one that may not end up working out that way given a player needs to be on a team’s roster before September 1 to be eligible for the postseason. There’s only so much sand left in Santana’s hourglass, and it remains to be seen if a team is going to be willing to roll the dice on him. 

Carlos Santana has two weeks to find a new MLB team

While Santana had a rocky 2025 season, this has been even rockier season for the 40-year-old. He started the season on the Diamondbacks’ big league roster before suffering an adductor strain in April that led to his eventual release. 

He went just 2-for-24 across his time with the Diamondbacks, 

He signed that aforementioned minor league contract with the Braves and managed to put together a .292/.385/.382 slashline in 27 games with two home runs and 18 RBI. 

That production is a perfect summation of where Santana is at in his career. Although he still has great control of the strike zone, there’s not much power left in his bat. He had a slugging percentage of just .333 last year with the Guardians, and hit one double during his time with the Diamondbacks. 

But even if he doesn’t pack much pop, he’s a switch-hitter who is a defensive master and veteran leader. That skillset helped him land with the Cubs last year after the Guardians cut him loose, and it’s a reason there’s an outside shot he could land another opportunity with a team. 

He never got that chance with the Braves thanks in large part to Matt Olson being entrenched at first, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a contender out there who could use some help at first. 

In a twist of irony, Arizona’s first basemen have combined for a wRC+ of just 78, which is the lowest mark among contenders.

But, with that reunion out of the picture, two teams who stand out as potential landing spots are the Blue Jays (who just placed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on the injured list) or the Mariners, who have been using Weston Wilson as their backup first baseman behind Josh Naylor. 

One team who won’t be going after him is the Guardians, who have first base set with Rhys Hoskins and Nathaniel Lowe. While the Guardians made a huge mistakelast year in giving Santana a $12 million contract,  at least we know they won’t do the same thing this year. 

But neither of those teams would be perfect fits given how much Santana has struggled as of late. But all it takes is one injury to change things.

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