New Report Details Why Carlos Santana Chose Return to Cleveland Over Deal w/ Seattle Mariners
We hear the term a lot in sports: Hometown discount. It's the idea that a player will leave a little money on the table in order to return back to a place that is special to them, either personally or professionally.
We know that hometown discounts are rare, discussed often but rarely given. However, in the case of Carlos Santana, a hometown discount is exactly what he gave the Cleveland Guardians.
See, Santana signed a one-year, $12 million deal with the Guardians on Saturday, foregoing the Mariners, who offered essentially a two-year deal. The easy and lazy narrative is that the Mariners are in such a bad place that players don't want their money, but that isn't the case here. Santana liked the idea of playing for Seattle, but it doesn't offer him the sentimental value that Cleveland does, both personally and professionally.
Per Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times:
Well, there was the sentimental aspect of returning to Cleveland, a place where he was beloved as a player and started his family.
But Santana also understood that playing for the Guardians allowed him to be closer to his wife and children and his offseason home in Kansas City.
Per MLB sources, Santana was leaning toward returning to the Mariners and reuniting with good friend Julio Rodriguez. But when the Guardians traded Naylor, they focused on a reunion with Santana.
And his loyalty to the organization and the city that helped him grow over his first eight big league seasons (2010-17) and then brought him back for two more seasons (2019-20) after trading him to the Phillies.
Sources said that Santana was “torn” on the decision to the very end.
As the new year approaches and the Mariners remaining largely absent from the Hot Stove season, here's a look at some options to play first base
— Seattle Times Sports (@SeaTimesSports) December 24, 2024
From @ryandivishhttps://t.co/m0NczlQFk7
The Mariners could never compete with an organization that developed Santana and allowed him to flourish as a big-league player, and it can't compete with bringing Santana closer to his wife and family. Fans are right to be mad at the Mariners for their lack of spending this offseason. They are right to be frustrated, but in this case, it's not really warranted.
If anything, be mad that the Mariners didn't get a deal done with Santana earlier in the offseason, allowing this to even become a possibility, but you can't accuse them of not making a good offer.
Santana won the Gold Glove Award this year in the American League as a member of the Minnesota Twins. The M's could turn to Justin Turner again after missing out on Santana.
Follow Seattle Mariners on SI on social media
Continue to follow our Inside the Mariners coverage on social media by liking us on Facebook and by following Teren Kowatsch and Brady Farkas on "X" @Teren_Kowatsch and @wdevradiobrady. You can subscribe to the "Refuse to Lose" podcast by clicking HERE.
