Astros get Domingo Santana to complete Pence deal
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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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If they win a world series or two, it won't be overpaying. If they don't, there will be second-guessing. If they can't get Pence signed long-term, maybe some second-guessing then too. I think the Phils have a couple years to work this out, but going to arbitration every year might be pricier than a long-term deal. Ultimately, we won't really know if they gave too much until we see if these guys make it to the majors.— kmon- Exactly. I also think Pence's mentality may be a lot like Lee's after being on a bad team. If the phils hadn't traded Lee to a bad team, he may have been likely to sign the most lucrative deal, but after playing for a bad team, realized money isn't everything. Pence went from worst to first. So long as the phils offer him a fair deal, even if it's not the highest, he'll be likely to take it to stick around. Watching the guy in the dugout, he looks like he's having the time of his life! — birdsfaninnc
- We gave up a lot but we got a lot in return: A proven, 28-year-old outfielder who it top 10 in batting average and hits for power. He's the perfect No. 5 behind Howard. Probably can hit third and fourth as well. How's this for size? He's an upgrade over Werth, even the 2010 and 2009 Jayson Werth. We've improved. And Pence is under contract through 2012. Maybe one of these four prospects has a really good career. Maybe two of them do. But what we have is a guy already having one, a guy who is helping us now and was kind of the perfect player to acquire in 2011.— eman
- Hmm usually a player to be named is some scrub, not a top prospect, but yeah if we're celebrating another WS win this year, no one is going to care.
I'll take a guy like Pence that is a sure thing over some prospects that may never even become everyday players. No one wanted to give up Kyle Drabek when we traded for Halliday. Well, Drabek was 4-5 with a 5.70 ERA before he was demoted. No one wanted to give up JA Happ. He was 4-14 with a 6.26 ERA before being demoted from the worst team in baseball.
Sure thing > prospects.— Only in Philly... - Santana is a very young prospect. He may be very good some day, but there is no sure thing. The Phils are loaded with outfield, first base and pitching prospects. That is exaclty what they gave up in this trade. They have Pence for at least 2 more seasons after this one, that is why they had to give up so many prospects. Only 1 of the 4 is higher that High A ball, and he is the worst of the four. They could all flop before ever getting to the bigs.
- Timing is everything. Forget the benefits and advantages of keeping prospects vs. sure players. The window for winning WS for the phils is NOW. So I agree with RAJ for going all in instead of trying to worry about the future.— penncrow19
- This is not a better prospect package than we gave up for Halladay. Drabek was a better prospect than Cosart and further along in the system (double A). D'Arnaud was a better prospect than Singelton. Taylor was a better prospect than Santana and further along in the system (triple A). Zeid is a throw-in that doesn't even come close to equaling the discrepancy between the other 3 guys. AA and AAA prospects are more valuable than A prospects too because they are closer to the majors and less risky. No way this package was better than the Halladay package. The only reason that Cosart and Singleton were our "top" prospects is because the other guys were traded. Doesn't mean they were as good as them though. These rankings are relative to the remaining talent in the system and they were behind the other guys that were traded when everyone was in the system. I was advocating a trade of Trevor May, Singleton and Santana for Pence so this is pretty comparable and a fair trade since Pence still has 2 years remaining on his contract after this season (both Halladay and Lee had less time left on their contracts when we traded for them). This Santana kid is at least 4 years away from the majors, if he ever makes it. Spending 2 seasons at low A ball isn't lighting the world on fire. It wasn't that long ago that Conlin was telling us that Michael Taylor would be a superstar and we'd regret trading him. How'd that turn out? And that was a guy that was hitting up a storm in AAA.— JimG
- I saw this kid play in this year. He swings hard at everything and, like most Dominicans and Latin players, is very aggressive. No much patience at the plate. He has tools, but is one of those kids that need a lot of coaching. Still, he's very young, assuming that his real age. One scout said he reminds him of Vlad Guerrero. Let's hope he doesn't develop into that kind of player. I think the scout when a little too far. Obviously the Phillies don't think much of him to include him in the package as a player to be named later.— EL Zorro
- Santana played in the South Atlantic League as a 17-year-old last season, but was demoted to Williamsport after hitting .182.............WOW, he hit .182 last season and you fools are worried about including him for ALL-Star Hunter Pence....most prospects NEVER make it to majors, learn about baseball before complaining.
— frank105 - the scout went too far, I meant.— EL Zorro
- Santana struck out 149 times last year in 103 games with only 52 BB. This year he already has 120 Ks in 96 games with only 26 BB. He also has 9 SB but has been caught 10 times. Guerrero never hit under .300 in the minors and his highest K total was 52 in 132 games. So much for the Guerrero comparisons. Maybe that's the same scout who told us Brown was ready for the Big Show.— EL Zorro
- Houston is a 4A minor league team like KC, Baltimore, Cleveland, etc. If any of these kids turn out to be a decent player they will be on the trading block in a few years, too. Hell, we could have gotten Michael Bourn back. The Braves seem to be happy.— MFinSC
- You gotta stop your evil ways, baby.........— Dadof24
- This trade was a win for the Phillies simply because Ed Wade was on the other side of it.— chief_jaysons
- Most prospects eventually retire as ex-prospects!— JBinPA
