Twins trade Danny Santana to Braves for LHP Kevin Chapman

Guess Danny Santana won’t be stuck in Triple-A Rochester after all.

The Twins made a deal today to send the maligned infielder/outfielder to the Braves in return for LHP Kevin Chapman. As you may recall, Danny Santana was DFA’d on Friday to make space on the 40-man roster for Drew Rucinski.

Before you get too excited, keep in mind we’re talking about a return for Danny Santana, and Chapman definitely fits that bill. Chapman, 29, is at most a Quadruple-A pitcher, and has so far spent the entirety of the 2017 season pitching relief in Triple-A, where he has a 7.71 ERA over 11.2 innings. Not promising by any means, but he at-least has ten strike outs.

Chapman has pitched in the majors before, however, as a member of the Houston Astros. In fact, he even had some slight success there, most notably in 2013 when he held a 1.77 ERA over 20.1 innings of relief with 15 strike outs and 13 walks. Things went south quickly, and in the past two seasons Chapman has only made brief stints in the majors.

For all intents and purposes, though, it appears Chapman is just going to add some depth to the roster in Triple-A for now. Though the Twins current have an open spot on the 40-man roster (because they also DFA’d Michael Tonkin on Saturday, but only so they could active Justin Haley, already on the 40-man roster, from the DL), the Twins declined adding Chapman and just assigned him to the Triple-A Red Wings.

Best of luck to you, Danny Santana, in your still-alive major league career.