Two years removed from throwing the first no-hitter in Mets history, former two-time Cy Young award winner Johan Santana has signed a minor league contract with the Baltimore Orioles, according to an announcement made by the team Tuesday.
Johan Santana signs with Orioles for $3 million plus incentives
The former 2-time Cy Young winner Santana signs incentive-laden minor league contract with the Orioles as he attempts to rehab shoulder issues.
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The pitcher, who is coming off shoulder surgery that led him to miss all of last season, signed the incentive-laden deal in attempt to resurrect his career after pitching in just 21 games over the last three seasons. The deal, which is Santana's first since finishing his then-record six-year, $137.5 million dollar extension he signed with the Mets following the 2007 season, has a base of $3 million, with $5.5 million in performance-based incentives, according to sources.
Per Joel Sherman of the New York Post, Santana’s contract will pay him $250,000 if he is on the team’s active roster for 30 days. That total would increase to $350,000 for 60 days on the active roster, $500,000 for 90 days, and $1 million for 120 days. If the Orioles release Santana before March 25, the left-hander will receive $100,000 in termination pay.
While the contract is for the minor leagues, it comes with an invite to spring training and may eventually lead to the hurler joining the team before the dog days of summer begin in earnest. According to Baltimore Sun beat reporter Eduardo Encina, while there is no timetable set for his return, after reporting to the team’s Twin Lakes minor league facility, the left-hander will began rehabbing and strengthening the shoulder with June as a possible target for a return.
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Coming on the tails of a four-year, $48 million dollar signing of Ubaldo Jimenez, seems to indicate a push by general manager Dan Duquette to shore up what was a bottom-third-of-the-league rotation last season. And such moves have been welcomed by prominent players in the organization. "In the past he was one of the best," Orioles first baseman Chris Davis told reporters. "Hopefully he can regain his form and be a help for us. There are some things you can't coach and experience is one of those things, and he definitely brings that to the table."
Though, while locking up the future has been an important part of the team's agenda -- Davis looks to be on his way to a large extension, and centerfielder Adam Jones is already in the midst of a 7-year extension despite only entering his age-28 year -- such signings seem to indicate an attempt to win now, or at the very, hope that the relatively small risk of $3 million dollars turns into the type of lottery ticket that helps teams win World Series down the road.
And because the team isn’t necessarily expecting anything, anything close to a return to the dominant stretch he had between 2002-2010 where he never had an ERA above 3.33 would be like hitting Powerball.
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