Domingo Santana Called Up; Cravy to DL [LATEST: Santana starts at CF in debut, 8.21.15]

[gregmag]

I just love what I've seen of Santana's approach. I haven't watched every game, so my view is very limited, but I've rarely seen him reach for a lousy pitch. What excites me most about this is that he seems very focused on doing what he needs to do to stick in the lineup. See lots of pitches, select your pitch to hit, then rely on your incredible strength to do damage. Take walks when your pitch doesn't come. This is simple stuff, but a lot of veterans can't master it. The question now is whether he has the physiological discipline to repeat those constructive moves and avoid falling into bad habits.

 

As for the trade, I want to see Carlos and Mike succeed, and I like Melvin's philosophy discussed above, but I'm not sure how Astros fans could be too thrilled right now. Carlos hasn't done anything for them to this point. Fiers' no-hitter, as often happens, will probably end up having come at a high cost. He's only pitched into the 7th once besides the no-hitter. His K/BB has gone south. Some of this is just adjustment to the tougher league, and it's too soon to say for sure how the no-hitter affected him; but in the two starts since, he has 10 K's and 7 walks in 11 innings. I really hope his arm bounces back in time for the post-season, but I'm worried. They have him for four more years, which is big. But so far I think the trade has done more for our future than Houston's present, and by the end of the season we may well have ended up with the best MLB performer in the deal after the trade.

[logan82]

is it me, or do you feel like Houston got fleeced after every game?I know the MiLB are still a year away from the bigs, but this rules.

 

I have a feeling Houston fans are thinking the same thing. They got two major league players under team control for more than a year. One is a bona fide all star while the throw in of the deal has been nothing short of spectacular for them.

I kind of doubt that. Gomez has been pretty bad for them so far. .231/.273/.336/.609

[SRB]

Davis has said on more then one occasion that he tried to play first base in the past and it did not go well at all.

 

He isn't the answer there.

 

Agree. I think Lind will be traded in the offseason and one of Santana or Braun will be moved to first. Santana seems like he should be a decent OF, but that big frame would be a nice target at 1B. Leave Davis in LF where is bad defense does the least harm, and let some warm body fill in at CF until Phillips is ready. Since he is going to knock Santana out of CF anyhow, I would rather have the good player (Braun or Santana) make the position change in the offseason rather than mid-season.

 

You would be wasting Santana's plus arm by moving him to 1B. Braun should be the one moving, and if he can't/won't then just trade Davis already. We can also keep Santana in CF for a year, it's just a rebuild season anyways.

[Roderick]

Davis has said on more then one occasion that he tried to play first base in the past and it did not go well at all.

 

He isn't the answer there.

 

Agree. I think Lind will be traded in the offseason and one of Santana or Braun will be moved to first. Santana seems like he should be a decent OF, but that big frame would be a nice target at 1B. Leave Davis in LF where is bad defense does the least harm, and let some warm body fill in at CF until Phillips is ready. Since he is going to knock Santana out of CF anyhow, I would rather have the good player (Braun or Santana) make the position change in the offseason rather than mid-season.

 

You would be wasting Santana's plus arm by moving him to 1B. Braun should be the one moving, and if he can't/won't then just trade Davis already. We can also keep Santana in CF for a year, it's just a rebuild season anyways.

 

If Santana doesn't have any background of infield work, I really don't see him moving to 1B. But, I don't assume that everyone can get the art of snagging bad throws in the dirt. You could try him if he is willing, but I wouldn't want to set back his hitting because he feels bad because his defense is dragging him down.

[reillymcshane]

You would be wasting Santana's plus arm by moving him to 1B. Braun should be the one moving, and if he can't/won't then just trade Davis already. We can also keep Santana in CF for a year, it's just a rebuild season anyways.

Well said.

[And That]

Gomez and Parra have a net -0.2 WAR (BR version) with their new teams. Santana has a 0.5 WAR for the Brewers. Though to be fair, Parra's WAR is -0.6.

[danzig6767]

Santana sure does look like an impressive physical specimen. For such a big guy he's really athletic and he has big time power given some of the long homers he's hit to right or right center on pitches on his hands.

 

It's to early to know exactly how his career with the Brewers will unfold, but he at least has a chance to be really good. Mix in Phillips and how well Hader is pitching, this trade could prove to be a major theft by Melvin as he exits his GM duties.

 

Watching Santana, i can see a potential young Corey Hart skillset wise except Santana would likely strike out a little more, walk a little more, and may not hit for as consistent a high batting average, but Santana did hit .296 in his last season at AAA and .282 overall as a minor league player.

 

I'm so glad that Mets trade fell apart, just as Mets fans have to be given how great Cespedes has played for them.

[danzig6767]

Davis has said on more then one occasion that he tried to play first base in the past and it did not go well at all.

 

He isn't the answer there.

Agree. I think Lind will be traded in the offseason and one of Santana or Braun will be moved to first. Santana seems like he should be a decent OF, but that big frame would be a nice target at 1B. Leave Davis in LF where is bad defense does the least harm, and let some warm body fill in at CF until Phillips is ready. Since he is going to knock Santana out of CF anyhow, I would rather have the good player (Braun or Santana) make the position change in the offseason rather than mid-season.

You would be wasting Santana's plus arm by moving him to 1B. Braun should be the one moving, and if he can't/won't then just trade Davis already. We can also keep Santana in CF for a year, it's just a rebuild season anyways.

I'd like to see our whoever our new GM ends up being to try and see if he could trade Lind and/or Davis for a quality young third or firstbaseman.

 

We all know that Davis has a terrible arm in LF, but he has legit power and is cheap, so i gotta think that there would be power hungry teams in the offseason who would like to add his bat to their lineup and if traded, we then could slide Santana into RF or LF and play Braun in the other corner spot vs trying to play him in the infield where he hasn't played in about 8 years.

[JackNicholson1974]

I like this guy a lot. He seems to me to be a real Nelson Cruz type, which is exciting.

 

Physically though, he looks just like WWE Superstar Giant Gonzalez

 

http://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/headshots/mlb/players/full/31931.png&w=350&h=254

 

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