Free agent pitcher Ervin Santana appeared willing to go the Stephen Drew route and wait until June potentially to find a landing spot, but sources are now saying he wants to sign a deal as soon as possible. If that's the case, the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles remain the frontrunners for his services.
Robinson Cano wants Mariners to sign Ervin Santana?
According to reports, both teams sent Santana a one-year, $14 million offer which was initially rejected. While Toronto is in clear need of another arm, the Orioles indicated they might be happy with what they've already got in stock.
"I would say that we're going to weed through the guys we have and see where that takes us," general manager Dan Duquette said. "We're going to continue to evaluate the pitchers we have in camp.
"We do have a little more pitching depth with our starting pitching going into the season, and some of the young pitchers we have high hopes for are continuing to develop their skills. [Kevin] Gausman looked pretty good last night. [Dylan] Bundy is on track. We still have T.J. McFarland and Zach Britton to look at."
In addition to those younger arms, the Orioles inked veteran Ubaldo Jimenez to a four-year, $50 million deal this offseason as well as Johan Santana to a minor league pact. "The club said all winter that we were going to try to sign some veteran starting pitchers for our team," Duquette said.
"And we went out and we got [Suk-min] Yoon and we got [Ubaldo] Jimenez and we got Johan Santana. Johan Santana is for later in the season, and then Yoon, we hope to get to see sometime next week."
The Blue Jays are in greater need of the boost Ervin could give, with R.A. Dickey frontlining a staff that thins out quickly. He only had a 9-10 record last season, but that masked a career-best 3.24 ERA and stellar 1.14 WHIP.
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