Guardians legend's career at a crossroads after Diamondbacks roster move

Earlier this year, Carlos Santana made eight appearances with the Arizona Diamondbacks across March and April before suffering a strained right adductor that sent him to the injured list. 

It seems like there could be a chance that could be the last time we see him on a big league diamond. Earlier today, Arizona reinstated Santana from the injured list and promptly designated him for assignment.  

While that is going to send him into DFA wilderness, he has enough service time to reject a minor league assignment and still retain his salary, so it seems like free agency is in his future. 

Still, it’s hard to imagine another team giving Santana a big league chance given he had a slashline of just .083/.154/.125 prior to hitting the shelf. 

Carlos Satana’s big league career may be over after latest DFA 

One team who decided that production was worth an investment was the Guardians, who signed him to a $12 million contract last season right after they traded Josh Naylor to the Diamondbacks. It looked bad at the time, and continues to look worse by the day. 

Santana slashed .225/.316/.333 last year in 115 games with Cleveland while working in a platoon with Kyle Manzardo before being cut loose at the end of August. 

He ended up latching on with the Chicago Cubs, but was designated for assignment after eight underwhelming games. 

The Diamondbacks signed him to a one-year, $2 million contract in the offseason in the hopes he’d bring some veteran leadership to their first base platoon.

But the same thing that happened in Chicago happened this year in Arizona, who was obviously content with his first base platoon of Pavin Smith and Ildemaro Vargas. 

And it’s not like Sanatana set the world on fire in the minors either. He hit just .130 across eight minor league games on his rehab assignment, which was approaching the end of its 20-day window. 

While Santana is still less than three years removed from winning a Gold Glove with the Twins while posting a .420 on-base percentage, his performance over the past two seasons makes it seem like that was 30 years ago. 

Santana still has that impeccable eye that’s helped him become a Cleveland legend, he has almost no power and was worth -3 Outs Above Average prior to going on the injured list. 

Even with last year’s struggles, Santana is still going to finish his Guardians career with a .249/.364/.441 slashline with 227 home runs and 762 RBI in 1,450 games. 

He also had three different tenures with Cleveland, which shows how much the front office appreciated everything he brought to the table. 

Santana has spent the better part of the past decade working as a baseball nomad, and his stint in Arizona was another example of that — even if it didn’t end in success.

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