Los Angeles Angels receiving interest in Hector Santiago
Jon Heyman of CBS Sports is reporting that the Baltimore Orioles, among other teams, have expressed interest in Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Hector Santiago. The deal would make sense as the Angels appear to have depth at starting pitching and the Orioles fear they may lose out on free agent Wei-Yin Chen – leaving a hole in their rotation.
It’s unclear as to what the Angels would be looking for in return for Santiago. They have been reported to be looking for a corner outfielder and an infielder to play either second base or third.
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Santiago will play the 2016 season at the age of 28 and is under team control for two more seasons. In his five years in the majors he’s posted an ERA of 3.55 over 532.2 innings. He’s worked mostly as a starter over the past three years posting ERAs of 3.56, 3.75 and 3.59, so you know what you’re getting in Santiago.
He would be a nice addition to the middle of any team’s rotation, but the return the Angels would get for him might not be worth giving him up. It’s never a bad thing to have starting pitching depth as injuries have become all too common.
The Angels are a team that is ready to win now so it wouldn’t make sense for them to dump Santiago for prospects unless they are going to use them in another trade to upgrade the current lineup.
As far as the Orioles go, I’m sure the Angels would love to get Jonathan Schoop, but that’s probably not going to happen. The better matchup with the Orioles would be for first baseman Christian Walker, which would allow Albert Pujols to move to a full-time designated hitter role, where he needs to be at this point in his career.
Whether it be with the Orioles or another team, it sounds like the Angels could be moving a pitcher in the near future and Santiago makes the most sense to go.
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The Angels have also been reported to have interest in free agent outfielders including Jason Heyward, Justin Upton and Yoenis Cespedes. It’s possible the Angels could be looking to move Santiago – who will get a bump in arbitration this year – to free up some money to sign a corner outfielder.