Royals Trade 1B Carlos Santana to Mariners
Major League Baseball's trade mill finally got moving on Monday as the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Mariners were involved in a three-player trade.
Of the three, the most significant was longtime catcher/first baseman Carlos Santana, who was traded to the Mariners.
There was arguably no better time for Kansas City to move the veteran Santana because his trade value was approaching a peak.
Coming into Monday, Santana had hit .367/.492/.592 in his last 15 games with two home runs, 11 RBI and 12 walks to just four strikeouts at the plate.
He brought up his season batting average to .216 and his OPS to .690, still just over 100 points lower than his career OPS, but considering his struggles at the start of the year, it was the right time.
Kansas City is very much a young team trying to build up its core and Santana, on the final year of a 2-year, $17.5 million contract, was eating up payroll space.
In return, the Royals received relief pitcher Wyatt Mills and William Fleming, two arms that could very much help out the team in the coming future.
Mills, a 27-year-old righty, appeared in eight games for Seattle this season and six games with their Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma.
Fleming, just 23 years old, was an 11th round pick of the Mariners out of Wake Forest and is now in High-A Quad Cities after pitching in parts of two seasons for Low-A Modesto.
Seattle is getting some much-needed help offensively with Santana, despite his down year this year.
He's picked things up in a big way over the last month and slowly returning to form of someone who can hit .250-.260 with 20 homers and 80 RBI.
The Mariners are hoping he can jumpstart the offense, who is desperately missing Ty France, currently on the IL. Having a veteran bat that can produce will bring life and energy to the lineup.
As a result of Santana being traded, the Royals called up first base prospect Vinnie Pasquantino, on Monday as well.
Pasquantino has been raking in the minors over the past two years, hitting .280/.372/.576 in Triple-A Omaha this season with 18 home runs and 67 RBI in 69 games.
Last year, the 24-year-old hit .300/.394/.563 with 24 home runs and 84 RBI in 116 games between High-A Quad Cities and Double-A Northern Arkansas.
Another young piece of this growing Royals core is up and is expected to be there for the long-term.
