Phillies add Julio Santana to bullpen mix

Don't make out-of-town plans for October! The Phillies have signed free agent reliever Julio Santana.

I got a little excited when I read the Phillies had signed J. Santana. Then I realized it was free agent reliever Julio who pitched with Milwaukee, not Johan, who won the 2004 Cy Young for Minnesota.

Santana agreed to an $800,000 one-year deal with performance bonuses today. Santana passed his physical late yesterday afternoon.

The 31-year-old right-hander pitched in 41 games with the Brew Crew, all in relief, going 3-5 with a 4.50 ERA. He had a pretty good stikeout to walk ratio (49/19), with an encouraging fielding-independent ERA of 3.88.

Julio, and the Phillies, will be glad to see a deeper porch in left. He’s a fly ball pitcher and allows homers to the tune of 1.3 a game last season (6 in 42 innings), right up there with the 1.5 a game Ugueth Urbina allowed.

He started last season with Triple-A Nashville (8 games, 2-0, 1.50 ERA) before having his contract purchased by the Milwaukee Brewers on April 29. He was signed by Milwaukee as a free agent on December 23, 2004, after pitching that season with the Yomiuri Giants of the Japanese League (29 G, 2-2, 1.89 ERA).

Beerleaguer doesn't care that much about Julio Santana
I'm now accepting bets on who will win the battle for the final spot in the bullpen, Santana or Aquilino Lopez. Santana does not project as a late-inning, high-pressure reliever, which is what the Phils need most. He's what I like to call a Quad-A pitcher, someone who straddles the line between Triple-A and the bigs.

At least the Phillies won't have to face him again. Last season, he held the Phillies to a .083 batting average in 3.2 innings of work, including four stikeouts.

Comments

[Cliff]

So when is the most likely time we can expect the Phillies to sign an ace?

[gr]

Yep, that's what i thought too. I went right to the HR/IP sat line and was not encouraged. santana appears to be at best, a situational right hander, since he appears to be pretty tough on right-handed hitters. I think lopez is a better pitcher -- i still don't understand why toronto outright released him -- and could conceivably turn into the phils' new 7th inning guy, the madsen role. lopez-fultz-gordon doesn't quite have the sting of madsen-urbina-wagner, though, does it?

[Tom Goodman]

"At least the Phillies won't have to face him again. Last season, he held the Phillies to a .083 batting average in 3.2 innings of work, including four stikeouts."

And that's probably one reason they went after him. I'd like the proverbial nickel for every move by every GM of every major league sports franchise to acquire players who have great records against them.

[Philliesopher]

Roster philler personified. Did you notice he pitched for Scranton a couple years back? Welcome back Julio!

Too many walks, WAY too many HRs. If he is our 7th inning guy, I predict Jon, Brett, and whoever else starts for the Phils will set fire to the bullpen by July.

[Tom Goodman]

They won't set fire to the bullpen. They'll just pitch right-handers away and let them lob home runs into the pen.

[Tom G]

LoFuGo is not on the level of MadUgyWags for sure.

[Tom Goodman]

Here's everything you need to know about Santana: the thumbnail picture on his ESPN profile page shows him wearing a Detroit Tigers cap. He was with them three years ago.

[sh]

rumors regarding abreu continue to intrigue me. the latest from the nypost being abreu to boston for manny: http://www.benmaller.com/archives/2005/december/01.html#080572

heard it on 610 this morning but couldn't find any confirmation in print until now. this would be much better than the rumored deal to st.louis for marquis and reyes.

ahh the stove is burning hot this winter..