It is a different era for Milwaukee Brewers baseball than the one(s) that many fans had grown accustomed to. From 1982-2007, the Brewers failed to make the postseason. For many of those years, particularly the mid-1990’s through the early-to-mid 2000’s, Milwaukee was just downright bad. Because of this, and other reasons, it was not a premier destination for free agent players.
In many ways, it still is not. The cost-conscious Brewers do not typically make big free agent signings. Instead, the team has become known for growing its own talent in the minors, supplementing them with low-risk free agent signings, and topping it all of with a couple midseason trades.
The team’s recent run of success (making the playoffs in four of the past five seasons) have put them on the radar of many players. In fact, newly acquired first baseman Carlos Santana had been trying to get on the Brewers’ roster for the past three years.
Carlos Santana Wanted to Play for the Milwaukee Brewers
According to a report on Fox Sports on Sunday morning, first baseman Carlos Santana had been contacting Milwaukee at various points over the past three years, telling them he was interested in joining their club:
They just reported on FOX that Carlos Santana had been reaching out to the Brewers with interest in joing for the past 3 years.
Thankfully they finally obliged. He and Canha have been awesome.
— Pitchers⚾️ & Pitchers🍺 (@BrewersOfMKE) September 3, 2023
It’s not hard to see why. Over the last three seasons (2021-2023), Santana has played for four different teams: the Kansas City Royals, Seattle Mariners, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Milwaukee Brewers. If he has been reaching out since after the 2020 season, that would mark the end of his long run with the Cleveland Guardians (with a one-year stint in Philadelphia sprinkled in).
He wanted to come to Milwaukee.
Santana is not the only player in recent years that has expressed this desire either. Following the Brewers’ loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2018 NLCS, Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal signed a one-year deal with the club for 2019 after he saw how much fun the team had together. He wanted to be a part of it.
Santana wanted to be a part of it as well, and thankfully for the team and Santana, he was finally able to make his way to Milwaukee.
He has been a solid contributor, smacking seven home runs since the trade. If/when Milwaukee makes the playoffs, he will be a big reason why.
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