Astros get Domingo Santana to complete Pence deal
The Phillies lost another of their top prospects Monday when the team announced that minor-league outfielder Domingo Santana has been assigned to the Houston Astros to complete the July 29 Hunter Pence trade.
Astros get Domingo Santana to complete Pence deal
Bob Brookover, Inquirer Baseball Columnist
The Phillies lost another of their top prospects Monday when the team announced that minor-league outfielder Domingo Santana has been assigned to the Houston Astros to complete the July 29 Hunter Pence trade.
That means the Astros acquired pitcher Jared Cosart, first baseman Jonathan Singleton, pitcher Josh Zeid and Santana in the deal. Cosart was considered the Phillies' best pitching prospect before the deal and Singleton was considered the best position player in the organization. It could be argued that Santana was the organization's best outfield prospect.
Santana, who just turned 19 this month, was hitting .269 with 29 doubles, four triples, seven home runs and 32 RBIs for single-A Lakewood. A native of the Dominican Republic, he also played in the South Atlantic League as a 17-year-old last season, but was demoted to Williamsport after hitting .182. He had shown tremendous improvement in his second full professional season.
In other news, Baseball America reported that the Phillies have agreed to terms with first-round pick Larry Greene. The report said that the high school outfielder from Georgia received a $1 million signing bonus.
The deadline for signing drafted players is midnight Monday. The Phillies are also still hopeful they will sign second-round pick Roman Quinn, a high school shortstop from Florida.
The team also announced the official signing of a minor-league contract by pitcher David Bush, a Conestoga High product. Bush will report to triple-A Lehigh Valley.
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- Sewellmatt-
In 5-10 years you can say whether the Astros/Phils got lucky or unlucky based on how the prospects developed. You can evaluate the trade now, based on current value of the prospects. Prospects are like stocks, they are an investment. If somebody with a lot of stock in a seemingly promising company sells you all their stock for a very low amount of money,it's a good deal for you. If that stock that seemed so promising plummets, in hindsight, you made a good deal in terms of value, it just didn't work out. This is why the Phils overpaid for Pence (though I'm glad to have him), regardless of how the prospects work out.— pasports31 - He's in single A! I agree with philly born, Pence is a proven big league player, at an all star caliber. They gave up prospects, prospect means they MIGHT be major league talent, its not guaranteed. All these people saying they over paid talk like these guys are sure things. Wasn't Drabek suppose to be a sure thing? How about Taylor? Phillies got the missing piece and Houston got 4 very good PROSPECTS. It was a win/win deal. Neither side came out looking bad. Amaro hasn't made any bad trades yet, some questionable free agent signings yes but bad trades, no. And who gets it right 100% of the time? You take chances and sometimes they don't work out. Amaro has a pretty good track record and so did Gillick. The Phils are the best team in baseball, relax.— cupajoe
Comment removed.- And the rest of us will be laughing when the Phillies with 3 world series in that span. Considering there's a better chance of that happening than your scenario. But I guess if you want to win the "what if" championship you win. But this team is built to win now, and that's what they're doing. They were the best team in baseball, and they became better after the signing. Stop whining and enjoy — birdsfaninnc
- Wade actually made out really well. No one can say he gave us Pence. He got way less for Bourn than he did for Pence. Three really high upside guys. I was hoping the PTBNL was going to be outside our top ten prospects. It looks like Altherr and Hudson are starting to put it together a bit, but we really lack offensive prospects right now.— Ed Gein
- Comment removed.
- @cupajoe Lee for Gilles, Ramirez, and Aumont was a good trade?— FABER
- What people fail to understand about prospects is they are an extremely valuable currency. They are cost controlled and you underpay for their peak production. I think Pence has helped the team and if they win a world series I will be thrilled, but they did give up a lot of talent, probably more than a player of his caliber is worth. It was definitely a sellers market though kudos to Wade for taking advantage of it.— Ed Gein
- my guess is only 1 of these guys will ever make it to majors for more than 1 month. pence is an all-star who fills a real and immediate need. he will be here for at least 3 years.
well done, ruben!— fishtown charlie 
Name 1 player, besides Michael Bourne, who isn't a bust, or nearly a bust that RAJ has traded.— NRGjunk- Comment removed.
- Lou Marson, Carlos Carasco and Jason Donald are all on Cleveland"s Roster. You can argue about their level of success so far but they made the bigs on a team that went from nowhere to still being in a pennant race in August. I was always under the assumption that the very best trades were the ones that were good for both teams. The guys crying here now must be the rapists who expect us to get starting All Stars for a bag of balls. Like lets trade Danny Baez, David Herndon, Ross Gload and Ben Fransisco to the Yankees for CC Sabathia and Robinson Cano and send Blanton to the Dodgers for Matt Kemp. I cant believe I am actually responding to this nonsense.
— DUDESKINS - 5 years from now, none of you will remember these guys names. If they ever make the bigs they will do so after the Phils have another couple of WS crowns. Pence is the real thing. Enjoy it.— cb54
- winning lasts forever, and the time to win is now. this is the purpose of a strong minor league system, & the reason it's impossible to over-invest in scouting and nearly so - the signing budget.
take back all the prospects the phillies have traded to be where they are today, and have been since 2007. what do you have...the brewers. nice team, but not the talk of the town or of baseball.
what DON'T you have ? - a ring, another series appearance, tremendous baseball past, and great expectations for this year and 1-2 more.
Lets let 2014 take care of itself.
i hope some of these guys blossom into stars. it does 2 things for US. first - it shows our scouts and development people are good. second - folks will stop trading with us if they feel we always pick their pockets.
— novafan - TheGuy - And we Phillies fans will be laughing, partying, parading, etc., 1, 2 or 3 times in the interim. That's exactly the point here, knucklehead: you have to give up something to get something. Our window is NOW! Our time is NOW! Not five years from now. Was that clear enough for you, bro'?— 5NOT4
