Red Sox News: Danny Santana to debut tonight against the Phillies

Danny Santana set to make his Red Sox debut in Philly tonight

Well, the worst kept secret has finally been made official by the Red Sox as they have announced that Danny Santana has been added to the 40-man roster and called up to the big club to make his debut. It seemed inevitable as he wasn’t in Worcester’s lineup last night and wasn’t even in the facility. It was a matter of time before Santana finally got the nod to join the Majors again and he’ll be looking to make some waves this weekend against the Phillies.

He’ll be making his Red Sox debut at first base tonight which will give Bobby Dalbec the night off. In order to make room for Santana not only on the 40-man but also the everyday 26-man roster, Boston designated righty reliever, Austin Brice, for assignment. This should come as no surprise and was the move that I’d say a majority of the Fenway Faithful wanted Chaim Bloom to execute. This also means that Michael Chavis and Frachy Cordero will remain with the club and Alex Cora’s available bench will grow.

For Brice, this was something that felt like it was just a matter of time. He made his Red Sox debut last year to the tune of a 5.95/19.2 IP/4.92 FIP/1.525 WHIP line and things didn’t get much better this year. Through his time in Boston so far he’s sitting at a 6.94 ERA in 11.2 innings with a 1.543 WHIP. It never felt like he had his footing with this club and no matter how often he’s been used by Cora this season the progress was just never made.

When looking at the situation to make room for Santana it was clear that it would come down to Brice, Cordero, or Chavis. Boston could’ve optioned either Cordero or Chavis but would still need to make room on the 40-man and Bloom isn’t going to be designating either hitter.

Chavis and Cordero both have massive upside as well as we’ve seen in 2021 while I think it’s safe to say we know what Brice is and most likely will always be. Designating Brice allowed Bloom to essentially kill two birds with one stone to open the spot up for Santana.

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Now, turning our attention to Santana this will be a big weekend for him and I’m sure he knows it. Not only will he need to come out of the gates quickly to get in the good graces for Red Sox Nation but he’ll have to follow up some insanely good showings from his MiLB stint. Between the High-A Greenville Drive and Triple-A Worcester Red Sox, he posted a .433/.471/.833/.1.304 line with 3 homers and 6 RBI. If he can do even a fraction of that up in Boston then he’ll be a fan favorite in no time.

As for where he may play, that’s going to be a nightly situation. He’s similar to Marwin Gonzalez in that he can be moved around to numerous positions and can excel at them all. He may get the call to cover first base on the nights where a righty is starting as he tends to hit them better than Dalbec does. I can also see him getting plenty of time in left field when the team is back in American League territory to limit the time of both Cordero and J.D. Martinez on defense.

I think adding Santana while dropping one of the team’s weakest pitches is another genius move from Chaim Bloom. It never made sense to me for them to carry 14 pitchers to 12 position players and limit their bench to just three players. Now Cora will have more to work with as far as substitutions go and can be a little more strategic while playing against the National League. Danny Santana has all the potential in the world as we’ve seen in the Minors this year and his last full season in 2019. I for one am excited to see what he can do with this explosive offense.