After a long offseason wait, the Arizona Diamondbacks finally got their veteran first baseman.
There was plenty of speculation that the Diamondbacks would try to reunite with seven-time All-Star Paul Goldschmidt, but those rumors died down a bit as the winter progressed. Once they publicly declared that they weren’t trading second baseman Ketel Marte, it became evident that Arizona’s remaining free-agent budget would be tight.
But for just $2 million, the Diamondbacks reportedly landed another aging All-Star first baseman, albeit one who is coming off a rough season at the plate.
According to multiple reports, the Diamondbacks agreed to a one-year, $2 million contract with 16-year veteran Carlos Santana on Tuesday night. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported that a deal was close, and Bob Nightengale of USA Today was first with the dollar amount.
Santana, 39, played 124 games last season for the Cleveland Guardians and Chicago Cubs. He put up a 77 OPS+, which was far and away the worst offensive mark of his career, but he did play phenomenal defense at first base, continuing an impressive late-career trend that also saw him take home his first Gold Glove in 2024 for the Minnesota Twins.
A Cubs team that was in the middle of a playoff push still saw enough in Santana to sign him to a league-minimum deal at the start of September when he was released by the Guardians. But Santana only got into eight games as a Cub and went 2-for-19 at the plate, which understandably made Chicago keep him off the diamond during the playoffs.
The Diamondbacks will be Santana’s ninth major league team, and it will only be his fourth season in the National League. He’s a career .241 hitter with a .777 OPS, and he’s hit 335 home runs, the 10th-most among active players.
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