Carlos Santana

[AHF]

I wanted to solicit people's opinion on Carlos Santana, the young catcher for the Indians. He seems to have a direct line to the majors given the beyond-terrible production from Cleveland's MLB catchers which makes him attractive for this year and beyond. He also has been destroying minor league pitching so far:

.313 avg, 1.029 OPS, 5 HR, 3 SB, 19 R, 23 RBI in 26 games

(Last year was also quite good at .293, .943, 23 HR, 91 R, 97 RBI in 130 games)

I am wondering about 2 things. First, does anyone have a handle on the timing for such a move assuming Cleveland will do it as soon as they pass whatever bench mark gives them the most economic protection in future years? Late May, early June, etc.?

Second, does Santana project as an immediate impact guy at age 24? I am in a 10 team mixed keeper league and would need to drop one of the following (from least likely to most likely in my mind at the moment):

Javier Vazquez
Ted Lilly
Russell Martin
Eric Young Jr.
Jaime Garcia
Chipper Jones

Other young players on the wire include:

Pedro Alvarez
Kyle Blanks
Cameron Maybin
Luke Gregorson
Ryan Perry
Brandon Morrow

Feel free to offer thoughts on the promotion of minor league players generally, your views on Santana specifically, and/or what you would do with my roster. For background, my team has an excellent lineup but a lot of struggling pitchers (Vazquez, Nolasco, Dotel, M. Gonzalez, B. Anderson - INJ).

[soty]

Here's a little more info on him that you may find useful.

viewtopic.php?t=408704&hilit=Carlos+Santana

[AHF]

Here's a little more info on him that you may find useful.

viewtopic.php?t=408704&hilit=Carlos+Santana

Very useful thread! So for a team in a keeper league with Russell Martin and the above options for the end of the roster/free agent pool, any thoughts on what you would in my situation?

[soty]

Good glad it helped. As for your situation I actually have the same 2 catchers on my team. I drafted Santana and have been holding him along with Martin. I would advise you to try to do the same. Then hopefully when Santana comes up we can then move Martin + for help elsewhere.