I have been wanting to write this article for a while now, but every time I thought about doing it, I figured there would be a slew of free agent signings right after it. Now with only about 3 weeks to spring training there are still around 20 quality free agents that are unsigned, but teams are obviously being cautious because of perceived warts that all of these players have. The one thing that all of these players have in common is that they are 30 years old or older. I am sure the sticking point for every one of these players is the length of the contract. Teams do not want to give them more than 3 years, with players and their agents thinking more like 5 to 7 years. Many players had a down year on their contract year that added fuel to the fire that most of these players are on the downside of their careers. Recent history of some very bad long term contracts of players 30+ years are making teams proceed even more cautiously. The Pirates of course are in a terminal dead zone when it comes to signing free agents. Despite this, there is one available free agent that is just screaming for the Pirates to sign and get out of that dead zone.
Anthony Santander plays right field and has slugged .455, .472, and .506 over the last 3 seasons. His OPS+ has been 120,121 and 134 over this period of time. No Pirate, including Brian Reynolds, has come close to putting numbers up like that in the last 3 years. Last year he had his best production hitting 44 home runs and driving in 102 runs. He is just turning 30 years old. The Pirates have a gaping hole in right field. He is a below average fielder, but the Pirates are used to having that in right field. Most baseball sites put a contract value on him at 5 years for about 17 to 18 million a year. If the Pirates are really serious about winning, which I doubt, this should be a no brainer signing. There is really nobody else out there that the Pirates really need. There are lots of relief pitchers available that would sign 1 year deals. If they would only sign Santander, it would be much less than they spent on free agent garbage last year. Unfortunately, this will probably not happen. If they would sign him, I would just go out my back door, fall face down in the snow and just lay there until I died. There have been 1 year rentals, like Alex Verdugo mentioned as possible signings to fill the right field void for the Pirates. I will be surprised if that even happens. Verdugo’s OPS+ the last 3 years has been 102, 100 and 83. He has never hit more than 13 home runs in a season. He seems to be in decline. After further thought, this does sound like the perfect Pirate. They’ll sign him. The garbage will be picked up on opening day.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 