CLEVELAND, Ohio — Chris Antonetti remembers getting his first look at Carlos Santana in the Florida instructional league shortly after Cleveland acquired the 22-year-old catcher from the Dodgers in a 2008 trade for Casey Blake.
Now the Guardians president of baseball operations, Antonetti had little inkling back then about the type of player Santana would go on to become.
“Just to see the way he commanded an at-bat and a plate appearance and the way the ball came off his bat, it was exciting to think about what that future could be,” Antonetti said. “Carlos obviously has gone on to do incredible things, maybe even more than we could have possibly ever hoped.”
Cleveland released the 16-year veteran first baseman Thursday, giving Santana a chance to sign on with another team before the Aug. 31 playoff roster deadline if he finds the right opportunity. The move came after discussions between Santana and the front office about his future.
“Over the course of the last week, we had a lot of dialogue with Carlos about where we were as a team,” Antonetti said. “We made the joint decision that a release was best for him and for us.”
Santana signed a one-year, $12 million contract in December after Cleveland traded Josh Naylor to Arizona. While he hit .255 with seven home runs and 29 RBI in his first 60 games, he struggled offensively in recent months as his performance dipped to a .191 average with just four homers over his last 56 games.
Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said it is impossible to put into words what Santana has meant to the organization. “He’s one of the best people I’ve met in the game, one of the best teammates, one of the best players,” Vogt said.
Santana leaves an impressive legacy in Cleveland, where he amassed more than 1,200 hits and 227 home runs while driving in 762 runs. He ranks second in franchise history in walks (933), fifth in home runs, and eighth in extra-base hits (524).
Vogt said he would not be surprised to see Santana’s name honored among those in the Guardians Hall of Fame someday after three different tours of duty in a Cleveland uniform, playing on a World Series team here and building relationships throughout the organization.
“He always calls this home,” Vogt said of Santana. “Even throughout this process, he just was super grateful and thankful and referred to the people here in Cleveland as his family. Just what he’s taught our young guys as well, it’s invaluable.”
Vogt said the hallmarks of Santana’s career in Cleveland include playing Gold Glove defense every single day, quality at-bats from both sides of the plate, and somebody who gave the young Guardians team his knowledge and expertise on what it’s going to take for each of them to have a long career.
“I’ve been around very few people that take better care of themselves than Carlos Santana,” Vogt said. “I’ve been around very few people who work as hard as he does, and it was really fun to get to know him and work with him.”
Antonetti emphasized that while Santana’s offensive numbers declined this season, his defensive play remained “extraordinary” and his veteran leadership proved invaluable to the team’s younger players.
“I know Carlos wishes the outcomes were better and the performance was better, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort, a lack of preparation,” Antonetti said. “He was very much a stabilizing veteran presence on our team and made a massive impact on helping some of the other guys get through the inevitable ups and downs of the season.”
Antonetti did admit it was a bit premature to look back at Santana’s career as being over.
“There’s still more of the story to write for him, but he has undoubtedly had an extraordinary career and has made a massive impact on our franchise in particular,” Antonetti said. “It’s reflected on his place on a lot of those leaderboards.”
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