Cubs: 3 Pittsburgh Pirates players to trade for not named Andrew McCutchen
By Mark Powell
Cubs players to target: Pirates slugger Carlos Santana
The Cubs shouldn’t view Carlos Santana as their savior offensively, but at the very worst he’s a good bench bat they can add just in case Cody Bellinger goes down again.
Santana, despite his meager batting average, does get on-base at a decent clip. His batters eye and clubhouse presence has made him a valuable asset in the Steel City, especially considering the Pirates have a very, very young team that is learning on the fly.
Nonetheless, Santana is a free agent after this season, making him an ideal rental target for another team looking to add some pop on the cheap. Santana has hit 34 home runs twice in his career, and has 284 over the course of his long career. He goes about things the right way, but he’s attainable, while Cutch is not for now.
Derek Shelton pointed out Santana’s leadership ability as early as spring training.
“The most important thing — and I’ve told this to all the guys we’ve signed — is don’t expect anybody to come in here and be the ultimate leader or be a leader,” Shelton said, per the Pittsburgh Tribune. “The expectation is for them to come in and be themselves. If you talk to guys who played with Santana, he walked into a clubhouse and people gravitate toward him. It was important in terms of being able to add guys who just by their presence in the clubhouse and on the field, people are going to gravitate toward.”
As it turns out, Santana provided exactly what the Pirates needed. Now, though, losing him wouldn’t hurt all that much.