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  • Twins Acquire LHP Kevin Chapman For Danny Santana

    Seth Stohs

    By Seth Stohs

    According to the Twitter feed of the Atlanta Braves, the Minnesota Twins acquired right-handed pitcher Kevin Chapman in exchange for utility man Danny Santana.

    Image courtesy of Jonathan Dyer, USA Today

    Twins Video

    The Twins acknowledged the trade with a press release.

    The Twins designated Santana for assignment late last week, giving them ten days to work out a trade or place him on waivers.

    The 29-year-old Chapman has struggled early this season, posting a 7.71 ERA in 11.2 innings for Gwinnett, Atlanta's AAA team. He had spent parts of the previous four seasons with the Houston Astros. He had a 3-1 record with a 4.09 ERA in 55 big league innings over that time. In those 55 innings, he walked 31 and struck out 48.

    While Chapman is far from a prospect, the fact that Thad Levine was able to find a taker for the athletic Santana is great. The fact that Chapman is not on the 40-man roster is even better.

    Santana was one of the longest-tenured Twins players, having signed back in 2007 out of the Dominican Republic. He debuted for the Twins in 2014 and put up a terrific rookie season. He has not been able to replicate that success, however, in the two-plus seasons since.

    Santana was DFAd to make room for Ehire Adrianza.

    Also over the weekend, the Twins DFAd RH RP Michael Tonkin, giving them ten days to work out a trade for him or put him on waivers at some point.

    Seth Stohs has been blogging about the Minnesota Twins since May 2003. A founder and owner of Twins Daily, Seth has been a Twins fan for 40 years and has a passion for covering the minor leagues and prospects.
    Follow Seth Stohs on Twitter: sethtweets

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    Featured Comments

    Darius

    Darius 2,741

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Just making sure I have things straight:

     

    Too old to be a proespect. Pedestrian stuff, at best. Bad career numbers ....with putrid AAA numbers this year as a 30 year old....

     

    ....So, this guy will immediately be signed to an extension and given a two-year leash, be next year's opening day starter, and will bump Berrios to the bullpen?

     

    The sad part is, given this club's track record, I can't even come up with a scenario ridiculous enough to be unbelievable.

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    Danchat

    Danchat 11,131

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

     

    Anybody remember Drew Butera--and how some proclaimed "we won that deal"?

    If you wanted to keep Butera, then DFA'ing him was the mistake, not the trade. If DanSan becomes a vastly improved player, the blame should be on the DFA decision - the trade is just a cherry on top, it's likely they didn't want to keep him anyways.

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    Otto von Ballpark

    Otto von Ballpark 20,320

  • Community Leader

    • Posted

    he passed waivers twice. Why is this a concern?

    Sometimes the team resists sending out guys without options, that's all. Not a big deal, but this is different than getting a non-40 man guy like, say, Miguel Sulbaran.

     

    Another difference is that Chapman is eligible to become a minor league free agent after the season if not added to the 40-man roster, which might nudge the team to call him up this season for evaluation purposes even if he doesn't necessarily deserve it.

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    Otto von Ballpark

    Otto von Ballpark 20,320

  • Community Leader

    • Posted

    Yes, traded him for Nunez. Then traded for Mejia.

    Although Nunez too was DFA'd at the time. It is quite possible that we could have acquired him even without Sulbaran, using any number of interchangeable assets. It is quite likely we could have instead acquired Nunez for, say, Tyler Jones.

     

    Not that I have any problem with the Butera trade, but giving it credit for Nunez and then Mejia is probably overstating it (even if it is technically true in a transaction tree sense).

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    jud6312

    jud6312 2,491

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    The fact they got anything for DanSan is an accomplishment, but you have to wonder just how bad Chapman is.

     

    He was just traded for the 3rd worst player in baseball over the last two years ... and the Braves had to throw in cash to get the deal done.

     

    That, combined with someone else's comment about him being out of options, gives me this sense of horror that we're going to see him sooner rather than later.

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    HitInAPinch

    HitInAPinch 4,518

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

     

    Just making sure I have things straight:

    Too old to be a proespect. Pedestrian stuff, at best. Bad career numbers ....with putrid AAA numbers this year as a 30 year old....

    ....So, this guy will immediately be signed to an extension and given a two-year leash, be next year's opening day starter, and will bump Berrios to the bullpen?

    The sad part is, given this club's track record, I can't even come up with a scenario ridiculous enough to be unbelievable.

    That track record ended with the firing of Terry Ryan.  I don't really believe it is in Falvey's plans to hang onto Chapman very long.  He's cleared a spot and taken on a guy that can easily be dumped if he doesn't get ontrack in a few MiLB games.  Not much of a win, but still a win.

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    big dog

    big dog 3,356

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    It also may have been an easy way to end the distraction of someone hanging around waiting to see what happens.  

     

    I wonder if a player would prefer to be traded to a team he may not have chosen, or released to sit in limbo and hope for offers from places he'd like to be.  Depends on the situation, I suppose.

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    Brock Beauchamp

    Brock Beauchamp 39,328

  • Administrator

    • Posted

     

    Chapman was available to us twice on waivers back in March. The second time he cleared completely, which is why Atlanta was able to outright him off their 40-man.

    True, but in reality Chapman's value rises a bit if he's off the 40 man. He's the kind of guy who you don't mind having in the org should he figure it out or the bullpen collapse but you don't want him clogging up your 40-man.

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    DaveW

    DaveW 9,037

  • Old-Timey Member

    • Posted

    Hopefully we don't see Chapman pitching for the Twins. I'm not hating on the trade, bc the best part is getting Santana off the roster, but if anything I view Chapman as decent AAA depth for when we start cutting more BP guys and calling up more and more from AA and AAA

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    ashbury

    ashbury 48,546

  • Old-Timey Member

    • Posted

    It also may have been an easy way to end the distraction of someone hanging around waiting to see what happens.  

     

    I wonder if a player would prefer to be traded to a team he may not have chosen, or released to sit in limbo and hope for offers from places he'd like to be.  Depends on the situation, I suppose.

    DFA for someone like DanSan probably is for demotion to Rochester, not formal release. To address your question though, probably being taken in trade by another team is preferable. He continues to collect that sweet major league dough, plus service time toward a pension.

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    Otto von Ballpark

    Otto von Ballpark 20,320

  • Community Leader

    • Posted

     

    True, but in reality Chapman's value rises a bit if he's off the 40 man. He's the kind of guy who you don't mind having in the org should he figure it out or the bullpen collapse but you don't want him clogging up your 40-man.

    True -- but it worries me because this front office has thus far shown a tendency to clog the roster with these types of pitchers.  And they've got an open 40-man spot to play with now...

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    Otto von Ballpark

    Otto von Ballpark 20,320

  • Community Leader

    • Posted

     

    So is the free 40-man spot gonna go to Park?

    Park is still on the DL at AAA.  With Vargas and Grossman doing well, I don't see an opening for him in MLB either.  Guessing it's a bit premature to think about holding a 40-man spot open for him, they will need a 25-man spot for him too and I'm guessing that will only come if there is an injury.

     

    I suspect the next 40-man addition would be a relief pitcher, like Baxendale, Hildenberger, Turley, etc.  Or even Chapman.

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    Brock Beauchamp

    Brock Beauchamp 39,328

  • Administrator

    • Posted

     

    True -- but it worries me because this front office has thus far shown a tendency to clog the roster with these types of pitchers.  And they've got an open 40-man spot to play with now...

    Yeah, it's a bit of a concern but with Melotakis holding his own in Chattanooga and Jay doing well in Ft Myers, I can't see why the front office would be in any kind of rush to get Chapman on the 40-man.

     

    If he was a righty, I'd be a bit more wary but the Twins haven't lacked in LHP options out of the pen.

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    by jiminy

    by jiminy 477

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

     

    I don't think he'll become Hicks, but I do think he has a future in MLB.  I see him being a somewhat valuable role player for an NL team down the road.  I don't think he's a good fit with the Twins but again I don't think he's total garbage. 

     

    Chapman, on the other hand...well I'm guessing we'll see him sooner or later!

    I think Santana could be a valuable role player, if his role is pinch runner. And emergency injury replacement.

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    ashbury

    ashbury 48,546

  • Old-Timey Member

    • Posted

    True, but in reality Chapman's value rises a bit if he's off the 40 man. He's the kind of guy who you don't mind having in the org should he figure it out or the bullpen collapse but you don't want him clogging up your 40-man.

    The good news is that experience has shown it's not difficult to obtain waivers if you want to remove him. :)

     

    (I know, he can refuse a second demotion to the minors and elect free agency instead.)

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    Brock Beauchamp

    Brock Beauchamp 39,328

  • Administrator

    • Posted

     

    The good news is that experience has shown it's not difficult to obtain waivers if you want to remove him. :)

     

    (I know, he can refuse a second demotion to the minors and elect free agency instead.)

    Maybe. Probably. But I believe Chapman was moved off the 40-man during the time when it's least likely a player will be claimed (March-April).

     

    Once the season gets rolling and injuries happen, it's harder to get a guy through waivers.

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    ashbury

    ashbury 48,546

  • Old-Timey Member

    • Posted

    Yeah, it's a bit of a concern but with Melotakis holding his own in Chattanooga and Jay doing well in Ft Myers, ..

    Jay hasn't pitched in a game yet. Were you thinking of Burdi, also in Chattanooga?

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    ashbury

    ashbury 48,546

  • Old-Timey Member

    • Posted

    Maybe. Probably. But I believe Chapman was moved off the 40-man during the time when it's least likely a player will be claimed (March-April).

     

    Once the season gets rolling and injuries happen, it's harder to get a guy through waivers.

    Implicit in my parenthetical comment was a question I intended to ask: do waivers transfer over for the rest of the season, after a trade? I.e. does the waiver pertain to the player, or to the team, once granted?

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    Brock Beauchamp

    Brock Beauchamp 39,328

  • Administrator

    • Posted

     

    Implicit in my parenthetical comment was a question: do waivers transfer over for the rest of the season, after a trade? I.e. does the waiver pertain to the player, or to the team, when asked?

    I think it's the player but now that you ask the question, I'm not sure.

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    by jiminy

    by jiminy 477

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    One interesting stat: Chapman's strikeouts well outnumbered his innings pitched at every stop in the minors. Every single one. Cumulatively he had 441 strikeouts in 352 innings, with 185 walks.

     

    That surprised me. His major league numbers are a mess, and make him look like a soft tosser with poor control.

     

    I know, anyone can strike people out in the low minors. But I had assumed he was utterly worthless. His team had to have totally given up on him, to swap him for someone whose team had totally given up on him, too.

     

    But the fact is people kept giving him shots in the majors. So they thought he had potential once. Do I expect anything? Of course not. The goal was to vacate a roster spot on the 40 man, and this guy doesn't need one, so that's his main value. And I'm fine with that.

     

    But I just had a tiny little glimmer of interest, reading those stats. And who knows. Sometimes a coach sees something other guys missed, and something clicks. Santana never had good plate discipline even when he was hitting, and those things rarely click later. I don't think he'll improve. But you never know with pitchers.

     

    As long as he doesn't block a real prospect, what have you got to lose? So, better than I expected!

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    nicksaviking

    nicksaviking 26,755

  • Community Moderator

    • Posted

     

    One interesting stat: Chapman's strikeouts well outnumbered his innings pitched at every stop in the minors. Every single one. Cumulatively he had 441 strikeouts in 352 innings, with 185 walks.

     

     

    I was also interested until I checked Fangraphs and saw his average velocity was only 90 MPH. I don't care if he's AA/AAA fodder, just as long as he doesn't somehow leapfrog Melotakis.

     

    Heck, I'd rather see Randy Rosario and I'd rather see Jason Wheeler moved from the rotation and into the Twins pen first. Probably David Hurlbut too.

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    Otto von Ballpark

    Otto von Ballpark 20,320

  • Community Leader

    • Posted

     

    Implicit in my parenthetical comment was a question I intended to ask: do waivers transfer over for the rest of the season, after a trade? I.e. does the waiver pertain to the player, or to the team, once granted?

    I would guess that waivers pertain to the player.

     

    But, once a player is outrighted and then re-added to the roster, waivers would have to be secured again to outright him a second time anyway.  (Which makes sense, otherwise teams could freely and repeatedly add and drop certain players from the 40-man roster.)

     

    The way that waivers remain in effect for a longer period is if you secure outright waivers, but don't actually do anything with them.  So a team could secure waivers on a player today, but leave him on their roster, and they would be free to outright him (once) any time between now and the end of this waiver period (which runs roughly May 1st through August 31st).

     

    http://www.thecubreporter.com/book/export/html/3530

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