Goodbye Slamtana

after losing Bryan Shaw earlier this week to the Colorado Rockies, the Indians have now also lost their biggest free agent on the market. that's right, this afternoon, on December 15, Carlos Santana agreed to a three-year, $60 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies, per Jon Heyman. it comes with a fourth year, $17.5 million option as well, according to Jesse Sanchez. and so it's time for me to write another goodbye blog.😢

let's go back to the beginning. on July 26, 2008, the Los Angeles Dodgers traded Santana (and Jon Meloan) to Cleveland for Casey Blake and cash. once in our system, he played strictly behind the plate for the Single A Kinston Indians, Double A Akron (then) Aeros, and Triple A Columbus Clippers. as he was coming up, it was assumed that prospect Santana would be the Tribe's future every day catcher. not only that, but the switch-hitter was pegged to be this big power bat, which the Indians desperately needed.

when the phenom made his Major League debut on June 11, 2010, fans were so excited. he was immediately thrust into the 3rd spot in the batting order, but later turned into the cleanup hitter. unfortunately, Santana suffered a huge blow on August 2 when he blocked the plate in the game against the Boston Red Sox and collided with a baserunner. the terrifying event resulted in a high grade strain of his LCL, hyperextension of his left knee, and season-ending

Goodbye Bryan "Geek" Shaw

Indians fans knew this was coming eventually and now, on December 12, the details have emerged. almost five years to the day after he was traded to Cleveland from the Arizona Diamondbacks, free agent Bryan Shaw has agreed to a three-year deal with the Colorado Rockies, pending a physical. according to Buster Olney, Shaw is expected to earn around $9 million annually. congrats.💰

whenever a player who's been on the team for a long period of time is traded or becomes a free agent and then signs elsewhere, i typically write a goodbye blog containing a few kind words and maybe a nice memory or two. i haven't done one of these in a while, but Shaw's departure is certainly worthy of a formal farewell.

Shaw has been a vital member of the Tribe's bullpen since 2013. in each of his five seasons with us, he made at least 70 regular season appearances and pitched no less than 64.0 innings. in the last four years, he appeared in at least 74 games. the right-hander set a single-season franchise record in 2014 by pitching in an MLB-best 80 games. he was also tied for the most appearances in baseball this past season with 79. basically, all the guy does is pitch.

more importantly, he never gets hurt. you would think that all these outings in consecutive years would catch up with him sometime, but Shaw never