The Minnesota Twins appear to be pointed towards the postseason for the second straight year. They currently hold the second Wild Card spot in the American League and sit four games behind the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central.
This past offseason, they added veteran slugger Carlos Santana, signing him to a one-year contract for the 2024 season. The 38-year-old is expected to enter free agency yet again this offseason.
Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report expects that the Twins will ultimately move on from Santana.
"Still going strong in his age-38 season, Carlos Santana has a 108 OPS+ with 24 doubles, and 58 RBI in a 2.2-WAR season, and he has been a major bargain playing on a one-year, $5.25 million deal," Reuter wrote. "The Twins have Carlos Correa, Royce Lewis, Brooks Lee, Edouard Julien, and Jose Miranda all vying for playing time in the infield and fast-rising prospect Luke Keaschall also potentially in the mix for playing time, so moving on makes sense."
Minnesota clearly has plenty of young players they are counting on in the near future. Correa, a veteran, is obviously going to be their starting shortstop, but they need to have spots available for the rest of their younger players as well.
As such, it is likely that Santana will ultimately not return to Minnesota, though that doesn't mean the veteran slugger's career will be over.
Though he's hitting just .238, he does have 20 home runs and 60 RBI and has also posted a .753 OPS with the Twins this season. It's no secret he has been a valuable piece of the puzzle for Minnesota
If he does leave Minnesota, it will be interesting to see what his market looks like.
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