Indians, Carlos Santana Agree To 5-Year Extension

It’s an impressive list, no question. I expanded the scope some (because I like to expand scopes) and looked at catchers with 23-32 home runs and 81-100 walks. This removes Tenace and Tettleton, both of whom drew too many walks to make my list, and York, who hit 33 home runs. This adds Darren Daulton, Mickey Cochrane, Toddy Hundley, Joe Ferguson, and Wes Westrum.

I’m not sure exactly how comparable everyone is. Ferguson and Bench were roughly the same age as Santana was last year, but of course Bench had already been a superstar for years. Ferguson never had another season as good as this one (1973), largely because he couldn’t stay healthy.

Hold on, though. Mike Axisa of FanGraphs writes that that the Indians didn’t necessarily get a discount, comparing his deal to the pre-arbitration and post-arbitration salaries of other young catching stars:

Montero and McCann are really good players, but the Indians are gambling that Santana will be more like Mauer and Napoli, truly elite offensive performers. It’s worth noting that Mauer signed a long-term extension while Napoli went year-to-year as a Super Two, meaning he was arbitration-eligible four times rather than the usual three. They ended up making the same amount of money during similar portions of their careers, however.That isn’t to say that Santana is overpaid -- just that he probably would have made something similar if the Indians didn’t give him the guaranteed deal. The Indians did get a club option to replace what would have been the first year Santana could have been a free agent, though, so the Indians might end up saving money after all.