The Cleveland Indians have a new addition to the outfield. Their rumored signing of Domingo Santana is now official. Santana passed a physical and agreed to a 1-year $1.5 million deal. The deal includes a club option for next season.
This is a low-risk, high-reward type move for the Tribe. The financial commitment is rather low and the team can move on if things do not work out. This is a strategy that Cleveland has tried previously, but did not find success with as recently as last season. Their signings of Carlos Gonzalez and Hanley Ramirez flopped big time last year. The difference between those signings and Domingo Santana is age. Ramirez and Gonzalez were clearly way past their primes and anything that any team got out of them was a bonus. Santana is still only 27 years old. This is a huge difference when compared to the other two on the wrong side of 30. Santana’s best years could clearly ahead of him.
Domingo Santana had a 30 homer 85 RBI season back in 2017 and things looked promising. Unfortunately injuries has sidetracked his progress since then. Cleveland is hoping that their new addition can stay healthy and contribute to their offensive success this season.
