Today is the MLB’s arbitration deadline, and with the deadline looming, the two sides agreed on a $1 million dollar deal for the 2023 season to avoid arbitration, via Mark Feinsand on Twitter. The Atlanta Braves are still making moves in the offseason as the club announced today that they have settled with Dennis Santana to avoid arbitration by agreeing to a one year, $1 million deal.
The Braves and Dennis Santana have agreed to a $1 million deal for 2023 to avoid arbitration, per source.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) January 13, 2023
The Braves acquired Santana back in November in a cash deal with the Rangers. The fact that the Braves were able to on work an arbitration deal means a lot of things for the club as we are more than a month away from spring training. First off, this move was likely done to focus more on other arbitration cases, such the club’s arbitration cases with higher profile players such as Max Fried and A.J. Minter.
Dennis Santana is a guy to watch in the Braves’ bullpen
In addition to this, the club is getting a good deal on a veteran pitcher coming off of a statistically sluggish 2022 season. In 2022, Santana posted a 5.22 ERA in 58.2 innings pitcher, with 54 strikeouts and a 3-8 record.
However, Santana also had some shining moments during 2022, which make him an appealing depth piece for the Braves’ pitching rotation. Santana posted a 2.00 ERA in his first few months of play and ended the season with six straight scoreless appearances on the mound.
With these numbers in mind, the Braves will have to hope that his unappealing 2022 season was just a down year, and that he will be able to return to form through Atlanta’s pitching lab. The Braves have typically done well with relief pitcher reclamation projects, so it will be interesting to see how much more value they can get out of Santana in 2023.
Now that Santana’s arbitration case has been quickly resolved, the Braves are set to focus more on their six players who are eligible for arbitration. We will likely see more news involving Atlanta’s arbitration cases in the not-so-distant future.