The Guardians signed Santana to a one-year, $12 million contract Saturday, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports.
Santana's signing came shortly after Cleveland traded Josh Naylor to Arizona for pitcher Slade Cecconi, so Santana appears set to take over as the starter at first base for the Guardians. The $12 million contract represents a nice pay raise for the veteran slugger, who joined Minnesota on a one-year, $5.25 million dollar deal last February and enjoyed a solid campaign with a .748 OPS -- his highest since 2019 -- while slugging 23 homers and notching 71 RBI over 594 plate appearances during the regular season. Santana is nearing the end of his career -- he'll turn 39 years old in April -- but should provide a decent amount of run production in the middle of Cleveland's lineup while serving as a bridge to the team's future.
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Carlos Santana: Wants to play 3-to-4 more seasons
Rotowire
Santana's agent, Ulises Cabrera, said Monday that his client wants to play for 3-to-4 more seasons, Jon Morosi of MLB Network reports.
It seems unlikely that Santana will be able to hang around that much longer, considering he'll turn 39 in April. However, he's coming off a strong 2024 season, having slashed .238/.328/.420 with 23 home runs over 150 games for the Twins while winning his first-ever Gold Glove at first base.
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Twins' Carlos Santana: Homers, drives in three
Rotowire
Santana went 3-for-4 on Sunday with a home run, two RBI and three runs scored against the Reds.
Santana homered and doubled to finish just a triple shy of the cycle. The 15-year-vet's two-run blast in the seventh doubled the Twins' lead and served as the springboard to a five-run inning that sealed the game. Santana is now batting 8-for-18 (.444) with two homers, a double, six RBI and six runs scored during a modest five-game hitting streak.
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Twins' Carlos Santana: Sitting Saturday
Rotowire
Santana isn't in the Twins' lineup Saturday against Cincinnati.
Santana has put together a nice four-game hitting streak, during which he's gone 5-for-14 with a homer and three RBI, but he'll take a seat Saturday against Nick Martinez and the Reds. Jose Miranda will start at first base and bat eighth.
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Twins' Carlos Santana: Back in lineup Monday
Rotowire
Santana (illness) is starting at first base and batting in the leadoff spot in Monday's series opener against the Angels.
Santana appears to be over the illness that forced him to exit Saturday's game against the Royals and sit for Sunday's series finale. Since the beginning of August, Santana has slashed .196/.304/.393 with six home runs and 12 RBI over 125 plate appearances.
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Twins' Carlos Santana: Sitting Sunday
Rotowire
Santana (illness) is absent from Sunday's lineup against Kansas City.
Santana left in the fifth inning of Saturday's game due to an illness, and he will sit for the series finale Sunday. Jose Miranda will start at first base while Ryan Jeffers serves as the designated hitter.
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Twins' Carlos Santana: Leaves game due to illness
Rotowire
Santana left Saturday's game against the Royals due to an illness, Dan Hayes of The Athletic reports.
Santana went 0-for-2 before exiting in the fifth inning of Saturday's contest. Kyle Farmer replaced Santana at first base.
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Twins' Carlos Santana: Belts homer No. 20
Rotowire
Santana went 1-for-3 with two walks and a two-run home run in Wednesday's 9-4 loss to the Rays.
The veteran first baseman took Tyler Alexander deep in the seventh inning, giving Santana homers in back-to-back games. He's up to 20 long balls on the year, the ninth time in his career he's reached that mark, but as per usual he isn't doing much for fantasy GMs in batting average -- over 30 contests since the beginning of August, Santana's slashing .206/.322/.423.
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Twins' Carlos Santana: Another day off Monday
Rotowire
Santana is absent from the lineup for Monday's game in Tampa Bay.
Santana was also out of the lineup for Sunday's win over the Blue Jays, although he received a couple plate appearances off the bench. The veteran switch hitter has gone 5-for-29 at the plate over his last nine contests, and the slump might be starting to cost him some playing time. Jose Miranda will pick up a second straight start at first base.
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Twins' Carlos Santana: Out of Sunday's lineup
Rotowire
Santana is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Blue Jays, LaVelle E. Neal III of The Minnesota Star Tribune reports.
Santana started the previous six games and will receive a day off after going 1-for-19 with a double and a 4:6 BB:K during that stretch. Jose Miranda will take over at first base and bat second in the series finale versus Toronto.
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Twins' Carlos Santana: Slugs homer in loss
Rotowire
Santana went 1-for-3 with a solo home run and a walk in Sunday's 6-5 extra-inning loss to the Rangers.
Santana has gone just 3-for-16 over his last five games, but all three of those hits have been homers. He tied the game at 5-5 in the ninth inning Sunday, though the Twins would fall in the 10th. Santana is up to a .241/.330/.432 slash line with 18 homers, 55 RBI, 48 runs scored, 22 doubles and four stolen bases through 115 contests in a near-everyday role this year.
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Twins' Carlos Santana: Swipes bag, drives in winning run
Rotowire
Santana went 0-for-3 with a walk, an RBI and a stolen base in Thursday's win over the Rangers.
Santana walked in his third trip to the plate before swiping second base, giving him his fourth stolen base of the season. The first baseman then came through in the clutch, driving home Matt Wallner with a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning to put Minnesota on top. Santana has struggled at the dish in August, batting just .195 (8-for-41) with two homers, three RBI and eight runs scored. However, he's driven in a run in back-to-back games and has scored at least one run in three of his last four.
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Twins' Carlos Santana: Taking seat Sunday
Rotowire
Santana is out of the lineup for Sunday's game versus the Guardians.
Santana started the previous six games but will sit Sunday after going 6-for-22 with a double and a homer during that span. Jose Miranda will receive a start at first base and bat sixth in the series finale versus Cleveland.
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Twins' Carlos Santana: Getting afternoon off
Rotowire
Santana is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the White Sox.
Jose Miranda will get the starting nod at first base while Santana takes a seat for the first time since July 8. Santana went hitless in the first two games of the series, but he owns a respectable .734 OPS over his 13 starts since the All-Star break.
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Twins' Carlos Santana: Launches 14th homer
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Santana went 1-for-4 with a two-run home run and a walk in Saturday's 8-4 extra-innings loss to the Brewers.
Santana hit just .133 over his first nine games in July, but he's gone deep twice over his last three contests while going 3-for-9 in that span. The first baseman is up to a .244/.327/.434 slash line with 14 homers, 43 RBI, 36 runs scored, two stolen bases and 17 doubles through 90 games. Santana's always been fairly disciplined at the plate, but he's getting by on a 9.7 percent walk rate this year, the lowest of his career.
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Twins' Carlos Santana: Receiving breather Monday
Rotowire
Santana is out of the lineup for Monday's game against the White Sox.
Jose Miranda will pick up the start at first base while Santana rests for the series opener in Chicago. Santana had started all three games of the Twins' weekend series with the Astros, going 3-for-11 with a double, a walk, a run and an RBI.
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Twins' Carlos Santana: Receiving Thursday off
Rotowire
Santana is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Tigers.
Santana started the previous 13 games but will head to the bench Thursday after he posted a .288/.351/.442 slash line with five doubles, two RBI and six runs during that span. Jose Miranda will move to first base while Trevor Larnach serves as the designated hitter, opening up left field for Manuel Margot against Detroit righty Kenta Maeda.
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Twins' Carlos Santana: Three hits in win
Rotowire
Santana went 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored in Saturday's win over the Mariners.
Santana reached base in three of his first four trips to the plate, starting with a leadoff double in the top of the fourth. It was the veteran first baseman's fourth three-hit performance this month and the fourth multi-hit effort in his last six games. Over that latter stretch he's batting .400 (10-for-25) with three doubles, one RBI and four runs scored.
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Twins' Carlos Santana: Continues piping hot June
Rotowire
Santana went 3-for-5 with a solo home run, double and an additional run scored Thursday against the Rays.
Santana extended his modest hit streak to six games and posted his second three-hit game of the season while blasting his 12th home run Thursday. The 38-year-old has found the fountain of youth in June, going 20-for-55 (.364) with four homers, five doubles, 15 RBI, 10 runs and a couple of steals through 16 games this month.
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Twins' Carlos Santana: Homer, steal in day game
Rotowire
Santana went 2-for-3 with a two-run home run, a walk and a stolen base in a 6-2 win over the Athletics in Game 1 of Sunday's doubleheader.
Santana also went 1-for-3 with a double, a walk and a run scored in the nightcap. The first baseman is batting .326 (15-for-46) with three homers and two steals over 13 contests in June, a stretch that's helped him claim a starting role at first base since Alex Kirilloff was optioned to Triple-A St. Paul. Santana is at a .235/.316/.425 slash line with 11 homers, 36 RBI, 26 runs scored and two steals through 66 games this season.
