This season got off to a horrendous start for Ervin Santana when he had 5 straight starts where his teammates could not even manufacture a run. But, that was expected to change when he started getting run support and his pitching seemed to be improving. He didn't pitch too bad in the first half of the season and yet his record looked like that of a starter destined for a demotion. He even had a one-hit complete game that seemed to bring the return to his immense talent. Unfortunately, he has lost 5 starts since then and only a couple of those were even decent pitching performances.
The Angels have kept their faith in the young pitcher, but even that faith is starting to fade rather quickly. There have been rumors of the Angels shopping for another starting pitcher and one can only assume that it would be to replace Santana in the rotation. The biggest rumor is a trade with the Rays that would bring in James Shields. The only thing is that the Angels would allegedly be giving up Garrett Richards, who is their 5th starter right now.
Does that mean that they are really not looking to take Santana out of the rotation? It does seem that they are going to let him try to pitch his way out of this slump. I wouldn't be surprised to see Santana sent to the bullpen for a start or two just to make sure that he is right mechanically speaking. Ervin is still a young pitcher who has the stuff to pitch in big time situations and for big time money. Which is the case already with the 11 million dollars he is making this year.
The Angels have become a team of bad contracts. Santana either needs to find his pitching prowess rather quickly or the Angels need to move him somewhere. They can not continually send him out there for less than 2 innings as a starter. He still has some value in the trade market, but with every start that value is diminishing greatly. Either trade him now or keep him and hope for the best. The Angels have great coaching and management, even though they have made some odd moves lately. I wouldn't be surprised to see Santana sit a start and then come out with a sense of urgency.
Whatever the case is with Santana and the rest of the Angels, they have some work to do to make the playoffs this year. With such a talented squad anything short of making the World Series would be considered a horrible season. If Santana can right himself in time to get some quality starts before the playoffs start it would be a huge boost to the Angels. Only one thing we can do now and that is just sit and wait to see what the Angels can pull off.
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