Inside The Phillies

Former Short-Stinted Phillies Slugger Agrees to Deal With Minnesota Twins

A former Philadelphia Phillies player has found a new home this offseason.
Former Short-Stinted Phillies Slugger Agrees to Deal With Minnesota Twins
Former Short-Stinted Phillies Slugger Agrees to Deal With Minnesota Twins

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It had been a long time since the Philadelphia Phillies were relevant on a national stage competing for championships in the playoffs.

Their decade-long drought was marred by dark times when the franchise finished last or second-to-last in the division in six out of those 10 years.

The Phillies attempted to bring some help in free agency and via trade over the course of those seasons, but nothing seemed to click.

That's what happened when they signed Carlos Santana to a three-year, $60 contract ahead of 2018.

He was coming off 10 years in Cleveland where he slashed .251/.368/.450 with 216 total home runs and 710 RBI. His OPS+ was 121 and he provided great value on the defensive end at first base.

Santana's tenure was rocky with Philadelphia.

His batting average was .229, but had the second-most walks in the National League and finished with 24 home runs and 86 RBI.

The slugger might have been able to improve on those numbers after another year with the team, but he was traded after one season with the Phillies because of an apparent outburst during a losing streak where he smashed the clubhouse television that teammates played video games on.

To be fair, Philadelphia fans likely wanted to do something similar during the midst of those poor performances from the franchise, but when a player does that, those actions almost always result in them ending up elsewhere.

The Phillies dealt him to the Seattle Mariners, along with J.P. Crawford, in exchange for Jean Segura, Juan Nicasio and James Pazos.

Santana has bounced around a few different teams since his tenure in Philadelphia, and according to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News, he's agreed to a deal with the Minnesota Twins.

MLB Trade Rumors reports it's a one-year, $5.25 million deal with incentives.

It will be interesting to see how the 37-year-old does in 2024. He's already part of the 300 home run-1,000 RBI club.

He'll be looking to add to that total with the Twins.


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Brad Wakai
BRAD WAKAI

Brad Wakai graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Journalism. While an undergrad, he did work at the student radio station covering different Penn State athletic programs like football, basketball, volleyball, soccer and other sports. Brad currently is the Lead Contributor for Nittany Lions Wire of Gannett Media where he continues to cover Penn State athletics. He is also a contributor at FanSided, writing about the Philadelphia 76ers for The Sixers Sense. Brad is the host of the sports podcast I Said What I Said, discussing topics across the NFL, College Football, the NBA and other sports. You can follow him on Twitter: @bwakai