3/17/23 Roster Moves - Mets claim RHP Dennis Santana off waivers

 

Press Release from the New York Mets:  The New York Mets today announced the team has claimed RHP Dennis Santana off waivers from the Minnesota Twins.  Santana, 26, has appeared in 134 major league games and owns a 7-14 record with a 5.12 ERA (79 ER/139.0 IP) with 72 walks and 128 strikeouts.

The Dominican Republic native appeared in 63 games for the Texas Rangers last year, going 3-8 with a 5.22 ERA (34 ER/58.2 IP) with 28 walks and 54 strikeouts. The 6-2, 190-pounder was originally signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as a non-drafted free agent.

More from JFA;

According to Baseball reference, Born April 12, 1996 - he will turn 27 this year.  Born in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic.

From his MLB.com page: Dennis Santana was originally signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2015.  He was traded to the Texas Rangers in 2021 for LHP Kelvin Bautista. In November 2022, he was "traded to the Braves for cash". February 26, 2023, the Twins claimed Santana off waivers from the Braves while the Mets claimed him today.

According to FanGraphs, he has no options remaining. "After a stretch during which he looked like a mid-rotation piece, injuries backed Santana's stuff into the backend sinker/slider mold as his rookie eligibility lapsed." 

According to Baseball Savant, he throw a fastball 46% of the time (average velo - 97); a slider 40% (86 average velo) and a changeup 13% (90 average velo).

This move is line with Billy Eppler's strategy that John Harper recently discussed at SNY.TV and included this quote from Billy;  “If you take maybe 10 of those shots and you hit on one or two of them, it’s worth it. Maybe you wind up with a sixth high-leverage guy, which really adds to the bullpen.”

Just like the waiver claim this off-season on William Woods, who the Mets were later able to slip through waivers and send to Syracuse, the Mets could possibly try the same strategy in an effort to bolster their pitching depth.  

MLB.com Videos:

Baseball Reference Stats:

Standard Pitching

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	ERA+	FIP	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/W	Awards
2018	22	LAD	NL	1	0	1.000	12.27	1	0	0	0	0	0	3.2	6	5	5	0	1	0	4	1	0	1	19	35	2.61	1.909	14.7	0.0	2.5	9.8	4.00
2019	23	LAD	NL	0	0		7.20	3	0	1	0	0	0	5.0	6	4	4	1	4	0	6	2	0	1	27	62	7.01	2.000	10.8	1.8	7.2	10.8	1.50
2020	24	LAD	NL	1	2	.333	5.29	12	0	7	0	0	0	17.0	15	11	10	4	7	0	18	2	0	1	73	84	5.72	1.294	7.9	2.1	3.7	9.5	2.57
2021	25	TOT	MLB	2	4	.333	4.28	55	0	12	0	0	0	54.2	48	31	26	4	32	2	46	3	0	4	237	103	4.36	1.463	7.9	0.7	5.3	7.6	1.44
2021	25	LAD	NL	0	0		6.00	16	0	5	0	0	0	15.0	18	11	10	0	11	1	8	3	0	2	74	72	4.90	1.933	10.8	0.0	6.6	4.8	0.73
2021	25	TEX	AL	2	4	.333	3.63	39	0	7	0	0	0	39.2	30	20	16	4	21	1	38	0	0	2	163	123	4.15	1.286	6.8	0.9	4.8	8.6	1.81
2022	26	TEX	AL	3	8	.273	5.22	63	1	13	0	0	1	58.2	50	39	34	2	28	1	54	4	0	3	255	76	3.35	1.330	7.7	0.3	4.3	8.3	1.93
5 Yrs				7	14	.333	5.12	134	1	33	0	0	1	139.0	125	90	79	11	72	3	128	12	0	10	611	82	4.15	1.417	8.1	0.7	4.7	8.3	1.78
162 Game Avg.				4	7	.333	5.12	67	1	17	0	0	1	70	63	45	40	6	36	2	64	6	0	5	308	82	4.15	1.417	8.1	0.7	4.7	8.3	1.78
LAD (4 yrs)				2	2	.500	6.42	32	0	13	0	0	0	40.2	45	31	29	5	23	1	36	8	0	5	193	68	5.30	1.672	10.0	1.1	5.1	8.0	1.57
TEX (2 yrs)				5	12	.294	4.58	102	1	20	0	0	1	98.1	80	59	50	6	49	2	92	4	0	5	418	91	3.67	1.312	7.3	0.5	4.5	8.4	1.88
NL (4 yrs)				2	2	.500	6.42	32	0	13	0	0	0	40.2	45	31	29	5	23	1	36	8	0	5	193	68	5.30	1.672	10.0	1.1	5.1	8.0	1.57
AL (2 yrs)				5	12	.294	4.58	102	1	20	0	0	1	98.1	80	59	50	6	49	2	92	4	0	5	418	91	3.67	1.312	7.3	0.5	4.5	8.4	1.88

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 3/17/2023.