Minnesota Twins Need To Go After Ervin Santana

Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Some things in this world never cease to amaze me, one of those things is the fact the Doogie Wolfson from KSTP knows everything, which is a very good trait to have in the world of journalism. I also love it because it gives us stuff to talk about, like this:

I like the concept of the Minnesota Twins going after Ervin Santana, because of two reasons: a) he’s a starting pitcher b) he’s a seemingly pretty good starting pitcher.

Really most anybody out of category ‘a’ would be an upgrade for the Twins, but getting a starter that also is in ‘b’ is just icing on the cake. Of course problems arise with going after pitchers in category ‘b’… money.

The Twins are pounding the drum that they will be spending money this offseason and really only time will tell if that drum beat turns into a song.

Santana isn’t the superstar that most were hoping he’d become when debuting with the Angels in 2005, but he is quite the serviceable pitcher, pitching in 268 games over nine seasons with a record of 105-90. Santana’s first eight years were with the Los Angeles Angels before being traded last season to the Kansas City Royals for Brandon Sisk.

This past year with KC, Santana went 9-10 with a 3.24 ERA in 211 innings along with a 2.9 WAR, which is a solid year, especially when compared to what the Twins had last year. The Twins had one pitcher over a WAR of 2, closer Glen Perkins with a 2.1.

In Santana’s 9 year career, he has had a WAR at 2.9 or over five times. In 2008, Santana had a WAR of 5.0. The stats say he’s a good pitcher consistently which would be a grand addition for the Minnesota Twins.

Throw some money at him, Twins. He’ll be 31 in December, still young enough for a multi-year contract.

Might as well go get Johan Santana, too. We love the idea of the M & M Boys and the Vikings’ Williams Wall, this could be even better.

Santana & Santana, your pitching woes specialists.