Kansas City Royals acquire RHP Ervin Santana from Los Angeles Angels – MLB Update
According to a leading sports website, the Kansas City Royals have traded for an amazing-but-unpredictable under 30 starting pitcher hoping that he could solve Royals’ pitching rotation problems.
For the second straight season, the Royals have acquired a pitcher from a West Coast team and it will be interesting to see if Santana can live up to the expectations in his first season with the American League Central Division team.
Other teams in AL Central include the Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians. Tigers, in particular, have some of the most feared hitters in their batting line-up. Prince Fielder, Delmon Young and Miguel Cabrera are capable
of hitting home-runs against the best in the business. It will be a challenge for Santana to pitch against these pitchers.
Royals acquired Jonathan Sanchez from the San Francisco Giants last season. General Manager Dayton Moore traded Minor League left hander Brandon Sisk to the Los Angeles Angels for Santana. Credit should be given to Moore for making the right choice this
season as Santana’s resume looks far more consistent than Sanchez’s.
“We go into every deal we make confident that it will work out,” Moore said. “We got a young pitcher (29) who has had a lot of success and who pitched very well the last two months of last season. Our scouts did their due diligence and let it be known he
was a guy who really got stronger as the season went on.”
“We look for guys who have the mindset that they can be a No. 1 starter,” Moore said. “It's too early to predict where he'll fit in but he certainly has the mindset to be a No. 1.”
Although he went 9-13 with 5.16 ERA last season, Santana pitched way better than what the stats suggest. In his finals 10 starts, the right hander gave up just 45 hits and 16 walks in just over 62 innings while striking-out 55 batters.
Speaking to the journalists by a teleconference call on Wednesday last week, Moore said he had been working to finalise the deal since the end of the season. The Royals have also traded Sanchez to Colorado Rockies for pitcher Jeremy Guthrie.
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