The tricky part of free agency people tend to forget is that even when a team is willing to pony up the money to make a signing, control of the situation always rests with the player.
Saturday’s lingering drama over the fate of right-hander Ervin Santana – weighing the merits of offers from the Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles and perhaps others – is a prime example of that.
The fan-bases of both teams were whipped into a frenzy on social media as the gamesmanship inherent to the messy business of the open market played out in the strategic dissemination of bits of information.
At noon, Santana was in agreement on a one-year deal with the Blue Jays. Shortly after, it became clear that wasn’t the case. Then there was talk of a 5 p.m. deadline, and the Orioles were involved, as was perhaps an NL club. Then the Colorado Rockies, thought to be that NL club, were out. Then the Orioles were the favourites. Then the Blue Jays were the front-runners. Then word dropped that Santana might need a few days to decide. Finally, there was limbo.
Given that slice of silliness, it’s easy to see why Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos prefers making trades to signing free agents. That’s not a pleasant way to do business, especially now that there’s some expectation among Blue Jays fans, and there are no alternatives out there should Santana end up somewhere else.
If this doesn’t happen, the public’s reaction will probably be quite ugly.
The letdown here would be doubly severe for the Blue Jays should the Orioles carry the day, and trying to play the two AL East rivals off each other is something pretty much every agent would do to try and milk out every last dollar for his client.
Still, this is also some tricky terrain to navigate for Jay Alou, Santana’s agent, after he broke off from the Proformance agency he had worked for and took the right-hander with him.
While Alou seems set to at minimum get Santana a deal worth roughly the same as the $14.1 million qualifying offer he turned down from the Kansas City Royals, the key for him is to position his client to cash in big next fall. To that end, choosing wisely between the Blue Jays and Orioles becomes crucial, as Santana needs to end up where he’s more likely to have a big season.
The sample sizes are small but at Camden Yards, Santana is 2-3 with a 6.38 earned-run average over seven career starts, while at the Rogers Centre he’s 3-3 with a 4.15 ERA in eight outings. On the flip side, judging by his career ERA against the five AL East teams – Toronto (3.66), Boston (4.50), Baltimore (4.98), Tampa Bay (4.98) and New York (6.34) – the Blue Jays may be the opponent he’d least want to give up.
Adding some extra intrigue is that Alou also represents Jose Bautista, who migrated over with Santana from Proformance. The two have a longstanding relationship, but the Blue Jays slugger won’t be very happy if Santana ends up with the Orioles.
Does that play into things?
Only Santana really knows, and as the events of the day showed, control over things rests in his hands right now. For the Blue Jays, Orioles and any other team that may or may not be involved, all they can do is make their pitch, and hope it’s good enough.