Finally, some news of significance in regards to the Cleveland Indians.
I am pretty confident in saying the Indians have had the quietest offseason of any team this winter: Not one significant free agent signed, not one significant free agent lost, not one significant trade, not one nothing from the Indians.
The most significant move the Indians have made this offseason was bringing back Austin Kearns; I am not joking either—that’s been the level of their offseason.
Please don’t get me wrong, I am suggesting the Indians should have thrown money at Jayson Werth or Carl Crawford. That’s not what I am saying.
The Indians are clearly in rebuilding mode and are going about things the right way.
I was just making light of their quiet offseason by baseball standards, so because I want every fanbase to feel like their team is somewhat relevant, I am going to give Indians fans something to talk about.
According to MLB Network Radio’s Jim Bowden, Indians GM Chris Antonetti sent him a text that said C Carlos Santana will be ready to roll by spring training.
This is some great news for Indians fans.
For those of you who don’t remember, Santana suffered a high grade strain of his lateral collateral ligament and a hyperextension of his left knee when he was involved in a home plate collision with Ryan Kalish of the Boston Red Sox. He had surgery to repair the knee back in August.
I watched that collision as it happened and Santana is lucky that he only had that one injury. It was pretty nasty and it wouldn’t have shocked anyone who watched it as it happened that Santana had a broken leg to go along with his blown out knee. It was that nasty.
But it appears Santana is ready to take his rightful spot behind home plate for the Tribe and that means one of the best young not only catchers, but players overall is ready to do his thing.
Before his injury, Santana was hitting .260/.401/.467 with 6 HR in 192 plate appearances. If you translate those numbers over a 162-game season, Santana would have put up the same slash line, but with 22 HR 130 BB and 11 SB.
For a 24 year old catcher, that is simply amazing.
It’s Santana’s combination of power and patience that make him a lethal hitter, and his .401 OBP was no fluke either. In six minor league seasons, Santana had a .401 OBP.
The Indians may be locked into the fourth spot in the American League Central, but with a healthy Santana behind the plate, the Indians will have someone to root for in 2011.
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