(Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn / Minnesota Twins / Getty Images)
Pittsburgh Pirates: Gregory Polanco shows signs of life at the home opener
The Pittsburgh Pirates have made a surprise move from their roster lately. Now this player is officially on a new team.
The Pittsburgh Pirates got off to a very boring start to the 2021 season. The big reason is simply that the team isn’t really meant to compete this year. The new regime is still going through the process of filtering out the organization. They have gained a ton of new players over the past few months, many of whom are a little off the actual Pittsburgh Pirates roster.
Even so, with the influx of players, decisions have to be made. Earlier this week it was announced that the Pittsburgh Pirates had removed Edgar Santana from the 40-man list and immediately placed him on waivers. This came as a bit of a surprise as Santana has long been considered one of the team’s best relief prospects, but the team also replaced him with another helper in Kyle Keller whom they requested from exemptions.
The hope was that Santana would make it through the waiver process. While he’s a fascinating arm, Santana has had quite a few bumps lately. In 2019, Santana underwent Tommy John surgery in a crucial year of his career. Upon his return in 2020, the Pittsburgh Pirates determined that he would be suspended for performance-enhancing drugs. With that said, chances were teams might not want to sacrifice a roster slot for a player who hasn’t played regularly since 2018.
On the other hand, the teams are always looking for Bullpen help. Regardless of whether it is the off-season, the trading date, the beginning or the end of the season, the teams always try to make things easier in the race. This was ultimately the case with Edgar Santana. It was announced on Friday morning that the Pittsburgh Pirates would trade the Reliever for cash for the Atlanta Braves. Jake Crouse, the new mlb.com beatwriter for Pittsburgh Pirates, tweeted:
The pirates traded Edgar Santana for cash for the Braves.
– Jake Crouse (@JakeCrouseMLB) April 9, 2021
Edgar Santana’s career numbers with the Pittsburgh Pirates:
88 games, 84.1 innings, 3.31 ERA, 74 strikeouts (through 2017 and most of 2018)
It is very disappointing to lose Santana after the potential he showed. At one time he looked like a potential seventh or eighth inning guy, and now the team is going to lose him on wage reasons (probably the money they paid him this year). Obviously there was something the front office and coaching staff at Santana didn’t see, but hopefully this won’t be a move they regret.
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