41 Carlos Santana 1B

Santana signed a two-year, $17 million deal with the Royals on Tuesday, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports.

The 34-year-old first baseman is coming off a down year where he hit .199/.349/.350 with eight home runs in 60 games for Cleveland. However, he hit .281/.397/.515 with 34 home runs and a 4.4 fWAR as recently as 2019. This move signals that the Royals are ready to try to compete for a playoff spot in 2021. Santana fills a big hole at first base, so he should be an everyday staple in the middle of the lineup.

Santana's $17.5 million team option was declined by Cleveland on Friday, Zack Meisel of The Athletic reports.

Santana spent 10 of the first 11 years of his career in Cleveland, but he had a career-worst .199/.349/.350 slash line with eight home runs and 30 RBI during the 2020 season. It's little surprise to see the team decline his expensive contract option, although it's unclear whether the two sides have interest in a reunion on a cheaper deal.

Santana went 3-for-3 with a homer, four RBI, three runs scored and a walk in Sunday's 8-6 win over the Pirates.

Santana got Cleveland on the board with a two-run homer in the third inning. He scored again on a Franmil Reyes blast in the sixth. Santana then added a two-RBI double in the seventh before scoring a third time on Reyes' sacrifice fly. The strong finale left Santana with a .199/.349/.350 slash line, eight homers, 30 RBI and 34 runs scored in 60 games this season.

Santana went 2-for-3 with a solo home run and a walk Wednesday, as the Indians beat the White Sox 3-2.

Still south of the Mendoza Line, Santana has hit two timely home runs in this pivotal series against the White Sox. Regardless, he is still slashing a weak .160/.276/.440 over his past seven games.

Santana went 3-for-5 with two RBI in Sunday's 7-5 loss to Minnesota.

With three singles Sunday, Santana registered his first multi-hit game since Sep. 6 and has just two this month. The 34-year-old slugger owns an unsightly .692 OPS with 23 RBI on the season.

Santana went 2-for-3 with a double, walk and two RBI in Sunday's 4-1 win over the Brewers.

Santana drove in Jose Ramirez with a double in the first and later knocked him in again with a single in the sixth. The first baseman is slashing .203/.362/.312 with 19 RBI this season.

Santana went 2-for-3 with a two-run home run, four runs scored and three walks in Friday's 14-2 win over the Cardinals.

Santana's biggest hit of the game was his second-inning homer to give Cleveland a 6-0 lead, but he was able to keep the line moving throughout the contest. The 34-year-old is slashing .229/.414/.362 with four homers, 17 RBI and 20 runs scored in 32 games this season.

Santana went 3-for-5 with one RBI in Monday's 3-2 loss to Minnesota.

Santana singled three times, including his RBI single in the seventh inning. For the season, he still owns a pedestrian .208./389/.323 slash line.

Santana went 1-for-4 with a three-run home run Wednesday against the Pirates.

Santana took Dovydas Neverauskas yard in the sixth inning, enough offense to propel Cleveland to a win. It was Santana's third home run of the season, and second in two games against Pittsburgh. He is slowly coming around at the plate, and now has 12 RBI to go along with 13 runs scored and a .197/.408/.342 line in 103 plate appearances.

Santana went 2-for-5 with a home run, five RBI and one run scored Tuesday against the Pirates.

Santana drove in five of Cleveland's six runs Tuesday. He delivered a two-RBI single in the third inning, but came through with the decisive runs on a three-run homer in the 10th frame. He now has two long balls on the season, with this being his first since July 28. After his big performance, Santana has a .194/.414/.306 line to go along with 12 runs scored and nine RBI across 99 plate appearances this season.

Santana went 1-for-2 with two runs scored and three walks in Sunday's 5-4 extra-inning win over the White Sox.

Santana's first run of the night came after he walked in the eighth inning and scored on a Franmil Reyes double. The 34-year-old Santana then reached on an infield single in the 10th and came around to score again on a Mike Freeman single for what would be the decisive run in the contest. Santana has been patient at the dish over the last four games -- he's drawn 12 walks and taken no strikeouts in that span. The first baseman is slashing .188/.451/.250 with one homer, nine runs scored and three RBI across 71 plate appearances.

Santana went 0-for-1 with four walks, an RBI and a run scored in Thursday's 13-0 win over the Reds.

Now in his 11th big-league season, Santana remains an on-base machine. He leads the majors with 15 walks. Santana is also striking out a lot lately (10 strikeouts in his last seven games) and he still sits with just one homer, but that same discerning eye is there and the track record should buy him a lot of time on fantasy rosters.

Santana went 4-for-6 with two walks, a home run, two RBI and two runs scored in Tuesday's doubleheader against the White Sox.

Santana reached reached base in all four of his plate appearances in the opening contest of the doubleheader. He followed that up by clubbing a two-run home run in the second game. It was Santana's first long ball of the season, though he has reached base safely in all five games to this point.

Santana went 0-for-2 with two runs and two walks in Sunday's win against the Royals.

Although Santana hasn't recorded a hit over eight at-bats to begin the season, he's drawn four walks and scored twice in Sunday's 9-2 win. The 34-year-old had a career-best .281 batting average, 34 home runs and 93 RBI last season and has a .333 OBP to begin the 2020 campaign.

Santana hit the ball up the middle at the highest rate of his career in 2019, contributing to his strong campaign at the plate, Joe Noga of Cleveland.com reports.

Santana recorded a .364 BABIP when he hit the ball up the middle, helping him to career-best .281 batting average. He remained one of the most shifted against players in 2019, but he credited the change in batted ball profile to a more consistent routine at the plate with the help of an assistant within the organization, Victor Rodriguez. Now entering his age-34 season, it may be difficult for Santana to replicate his 135 wRC+ from last season, though it is encouraging that he purposefully changed his approach at the dish.

Santana is not in the lineup Saturday against the Nationals.

Santana is one of many Cleveland regulars to sit the day after the team was eliminated from playoff contention. Jake Bauers gets the nod at first base.

Santana went 3-for-3 with a hit by pitch and a pair of runs scored in Sunday's 10-1 win over the Phillies.

Santana was trouble for his former team all game. He singled in the first, singled and scored in the fourth, doubled in the fifth, and was hit by a pitch and scored again in the seventh. The veteran continues to be an entirely different hitter than he was last season in Philadelphia, bouncing back from a year in which he hit .229 with 24 homers to hit .288 with 34 homers this season.

Santana went 2-for-4 with an RBI in Friday's win over the Phillies.

Santana came through with an RBI single to left field in the second inning, and the Indians would come away with a 5-2 victory. The 33-year-old slugger has now hit safely in four straight games and sits with 34 home runs and 92 RBI over 152 contests this year for the Indians.

Santana went 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBI in Monday's 11-3 win over the White Sox.

Santana's solo blast off Jace Fry in the sixth inning pushed the Indians' lead to four and went down as his 32nd home run of the season, leaving him just two shy of matching the career-best total he posted in 2016. The 33-year-old has been a good-power, low-average type for most of his career, but thanks to an elevated BABIP and 44.5 percent hard-hit rate, Santana has emerged as a legitimate four-category standout. He's currently sitting on a .292 average, which is 41 points above his career mark.

Santana went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer, a double and a walk in a 9-6 loss to the Rays on Saturday.

Santana provided the Indians with an early lead thanks to his first-inning home run, but the offense didn't tally another run until the eighth inning. The 33-year-old finished August with a .350/.472/.650 slash line with 26 runs scored, eight home runs and 22 RBI.