Carlos Santana; All Around The Diamond

It is no secret the Cleveland Indians’ manager Terry Francona loves versatility on his team. Tito prefers players like Mike Aviles and Jose Ramirez that can play multiple positions without skipping a beat. Over the past three seasons this has been tried with Tribe first baseman Carlos Santana.
Although Santana has seemed to have found a home at first base, this year marked the third different opening day position in the past three seasons for the Tribe clean-up hitter. His time spent at each position has brought varied levels of success, not only defensively, but offensively as well.

Behind The Dish

Santana spent his first three seasons in an Indians uniform as the primary catcher. While Santana was never the best catcher on the defensive end, he was a very good hitting catcher. In his four seasons spending time behind the plate Santana caught 325 games and stepped to the plate a total of 1,341 times. Santana has kept an average of .241 with 43 home runs and 156 runs batted in. The other number worth noting for him would be his on-base percentage of .364. No matter where he has played, Santana has always done a great job taking pitches. While his offensive numbers are good for a catcher, it seems as if his catching days are over, at least unless there is an emergency.

The Hot Corner

The emergence of Yan Gomes forced Carlos Santana out of the primary catching role in the Spring of 2013. Inconsistent play at third base led to a transition to the hot corner for the former back stop. Santana beat out Lonnie Chisenhall for the Opening Day start at third base. Looking back on the start of the 2014 season, it is safe to say that the Carlos Santana experiment at the hot corner was a failure. Not only was the defense played by Santana atrocious, but his hitting was less than stellar as well. The experiment lasted a total of 113 plate appearances. Even though the sample size was small, the numbers that Santana posted were some of the worst of his career. Santana hit an abysmal .129 with only two home runs and seven runs batted in. The lone bright spot of Santana’s time while playing third base was that his on-base percentage still was near the .300 mark, so even with the terrible batting average, he still found a way to get on base and see pitches.

Santana’s On First

Carlos has always spent sometime at first base, but it wasn’t until the second half of the 2014 season where he was anointed as the team’s full-time first baseman. The move was made partly because Santana had become a better defensive player at the position than Nick Swisher, although Swisher’s injured knees needing surgery also helped make Santana the everyday starter. Of the positions played, Santana has posted his best offensive numbers while playing first base. In Santana’s 961 plate appearances, he has hit .267 with 42 home runs and 133 runs batted in. His power numbers are very similar to his numbers while catching, however he has played almost 100 less games at first base than he has caught. The one trend that has kept no matter where he has played is his OBP. First base is no different to this trend as Santana has an on-base percentage of .389

There may be a number of different reasons that can attribute to the differences in how well Santana has hit in his different positions. My opinion is that the less thinking he has to do in the field, the better he hits at the plate. People tend to underestimate the mental ability that it takes for a catcher to handle a pitching staff, as well as be successful as a hitter. The move to third base forced Santana to focus on his defensive abilities on a daily basis, which definitely took a toll on his hitting ability as well. First base is by far the easiest position of the three mentally, and that has shown in his numbers. The best case scenario for the team, and Santana, would be to keep him posted at first base.

On the Indians, Tito values versatility. While Carlos Santana has shown the willingness to be versatile, it is in the best interest of the team, and the player, to keep him as the everyday first baseman.

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Carlos Santana, Pitbull in pro-immigrant song

Pitbull (L) and Carlos Santana, pictured performing on November 20, 2014, launched a music video in celebration of immigrants (AFP Photo/Mark Ralston)

Miami (AFP) - Latin music stars including Carlos Santana and Pitbull on Monday launched a music video in celebration of immigrants, voicing alarm at the harsh turn of US political discourse.

"We're All Mexican," in English and Spanish with a Latin beat and mariachi brass, features images of famous Mexicans such as painter Frida Kahlo as stars say the song's title.

With US and Mexican flags waving, the video also shows images of immigrants' contributions to US society ranging from farm labor to Mexican cuisine.

Cuban-American producer Emilio Estefan led the initiative given the popularity in the Republican presidential nomination contest of tycoon Donald Trump, who denounced undocumented Mexicans as rapists and drug dealers.

"'We're all Mexican' is a metaphor symbolizing that we can all become the victims of racism and bigotry at any moment," said a statement accompanying the video.

Without referring directly to Trump, the statement denounced the vilification of Mexicans but said their situation was not unique.

"Around the world, different immigrant groups are harassed and made to be scapegoats for the ills of their respective countries of residence," it said.

"The song celebrates the positive contributions of immigrants in the United States as a balance to the negativity being expressed publicly," it said.

Stars involved in the song include the Cuban-American rapper Pitbull, Chicano rock legend Carlos Santana and Mexican American actress Eva Longoria.

Other stars in the project include Haitian-born rapper Wyclef Jean of Fugees fame and Oscar-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg.

Trump, the property mogul and television star who has defied all political odds to lead the Republican race ahead of the November 2016 election, stunned many across the United States when he described Mexican immigrants as rapists.

Hispanic-Americans are the largest and fastest growing US minority; most Latinos are of Mexican descent or origin.

And Republicans need to court Hispanics' votes to win the White House.

Trump, 69, also wants to build a wall along the US-Mexican border.

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Why Carlos Santana Shouldn’t Hit Leadoff

Indians Manager Terry Francona made some waves recently when he suggested he was considering the possibility of using Carlos Santana to bat lead-off in the team’s lineup. Admittedly, Francona knows a lot more about baseball than I do and probably has what he feels are good reasons for such a consideration, however, I think this is a bad idea.
Santana spent most of the 2015 season as the cleanup hitter mostly by default because there weren’t any other candidates who could have done better. With that said, I thought he would have been served better elsewhere in the lineup. Ideally, I think he’s a better fit in the fifth or sixth spot in the lineup or perhaps even as low as seventh.
Yes, Santana does get on base and had 113 walks to lead the league in 2014 and had 108 walks in 2015 with a .357 OBP in 666 plate appearances in 154 games last year. Those certainly look like good numbers.
Keep in mind, as a former catcher Santana isn’t a fast runner, perhaps considered to be pretty slow when compared to the average player. He did have 11 steals in 2015, but to me that’s really an inconsequential statistic because it’s not a really true measure of his speed. Would anyone really want Santana to try to steal a base when the game is on the line? Maybe if you have a two or three run lead in the fourth inning, but in a critical situation, he’s staying put. That’s why his steal total is inconsequential.
Santana scored 72 runs in 2015 and 68 in 2014. In 2015, he had 19 home runs and in 2014 he had 27 home runs. That means Santana scored just 53 times when he didn’t hit a home run in 2015 and only 41 times in 2014 when he didn’t hit a home run. He also hit 29 doubles in 2015 and 25 doubles in 2014, yet he’s not crossing the plate very often and that’s not to be overlooked when someone walks more than 100 times per year.
He ranked fifth in MLB in 2015 in walks trailing only Joey Votto (143), Bryce Harper (124), Paul Goldschmidt (118) and Jose Bautista (110). When comparing the top 25 hitters in walks, Santana ranks 22nd out of these top 25 in walks with 72 runs scored ahead of only Joc Pederson who 7th in walks drawing 92 walks and scoring 67 runs, Miguel Cabrera who was tied for 15th in walks drawing 77 and scoring 64 runs, and Joe Mauer who was 25th in walks drawing 67 walks and scoring 69 runs.
A BaseballReference.com statistic called Runs Better Than Average measures the number of runs a player is better than a league average player. Santana was a -12 in Runs Better Than Average in 2015, and in 2014, he was a +4 in this category and in 2013, Santana was +16. Not a good trend.
Santana isn’t especially great at scoring from second base when a batter hits a single. For his career, Santana has scored 52 times out of 98 times or 53 percent of the times when he was on second base and the hitter got a single. To compare, Jason Kipnis scored 70 percent of the times when he was on second base and the batter hit a single in 2015. This is important because Kipnis hit 43 doubles in 2015, whereas Santana hit 29 doubles and the odds of Kipnis getting one hit from double and then scoring on a single are much greater than Santana.
What I’m trying to point out is Kipnis has a much greater ability to use his speed and power to score a run without the benefit of two hits or a sacrifice bunt or a “productive out” via a ground ball or deep fly ball.
It’s possible that Santana, and all the glory of his walks, might need a combined two or even three hits/walks from his teammates to come around to score when he gets a base on balls.
Picture a scenario where Santana gets a lead-off walk while facing the Tigers in Detroit. Francisco Lindor gets a single and runners are on first and second as Santana fails to get to third. Kipnis batting third gets a single and Santana fails to score from second and Lindor is prevented from using his speed to go from first to third and instead remains on second base. Bases are loaded with no outs. Cleanup hitter Mike Napoli hits a medium fly ball to left field. Santana can’t score on a sacrifice fly opportunity and no runners advance with one out. The number five hitter comes up and hits into a double play and no runs have scored and the inning is over.
Let’s try this with Kipnis as the lead-off batter. He gets a walk and then Lindor gets a single and Kipnis moves to third. The number three hitter (whoever that might be with Michael Brantley out) gets a single and Kipnis scores and Lindor also moves over to third. Napoli hits a medium fly ball to left field and Lindor scores on the sacrifice fly. Score is 2-0. The number five batter (perhaps Santana) comes to bat and with no one on base so there is no double play in order and just one out. The starting pitcher has to work harder that inning and is behind in the game and the potential remains for more runs. Even if the next two hitters go down in order, the score is still Indians 2-0.
I understand this scenario isn’t necessarily going to happen and certainly could turn out differently. There are parts individually that could occur more often such as failing to score on a sacrifice fly or going first to third etc, but the idea here is to illustrate that the speed of Kipnis and Lindor could be impaired with a guy like Santana clogging up the bases in front of them. It also means the potential to scratch out runs at the beginning of the game drops a bit. When a team that has a lot of offensive shortcomings doesn’t use some of the assets it has such as the speed at the top of the order with Kipnis, Lindor and eventually Brantley, then it makes it that much harder to score.
It’s important to note that Kipnis played well as the team’s lead-off hitter in 2015. He led off the game 121 times and hit .302/.331/.526 and came around to score 35 times in the first inning or just under 30 percent of the time (28.9 percent) for each plate appearance. When he was the lead-off hitter, Kipnis hit .311/.385/.476 for the season in 562 plate appearances. When he batted elsewhere in the lineup, Kipnis hit just 18-for-73 (.247) in 79 plate appearances.
Kipnis seemed to flourish in his role as the team’s leadoff hitter, plus quite simply, he has a higher on-base percentage overall than Santana (.372 to .357). Why mess with that success?
An argument can be made that maybe the Indians can just use Santana at lead-off while Brantley is out and slide Kipnis down to the number three slot in the lineup. I’d rather see someone like Lindor or even Rajai Davis or perhaps Jose Ramirez bat lead-off before Santana if you want to move Kipnis down to the third spot while Brantley is out, even though I’d rather he stay put in the lead-off position. That, however, is an argument for another time.
Simply put, there’s a reason that speedier guys like Kipnis have traditionally led off baseball games and that’s because it is easier to get them across the plate.

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Carlos Santana and Sri Chinmoy

"This shit is not for me--I don't care how enlightening it is."

Renowned musician and multi-Grammy winner Carlos Santana was a follower of Guru Sri Chinmoy for nine years (1972-1981). In a recent interview (Rolling Stone March 16, 2000) he discussed his time as a devotee within the group. His name while a member was "Devadip" ("the eye, the light of the lamp of God"). That name, given to him by Chinmoy--is inscribed on a guitar strap he still keeps at his home displayed as an apparent memento.

His wife of many years Deborah also joined the group and was then named "Urmila."

Carlos Santana was first introduced to Sri Chinmoy by guitarist John McLaughlin, but soon his experience in the group became a regimented "West Point approach to spirituality." That regimen included daily meditation at 5:00 AM (Chinmoy's followers meditate on his picture). Because Chinmoy liked running Deborah Santana ran marathons. Though she once ran a "devotional vegetarian restaurant" for the group in San Francisco Deborah says now they did "ridiculous things" to "prove [their] devotion" (e.g. "who could sleep the least and still function"). She adds, "I once ran a forty-seven-mile race. It wasn't enough just to run a marathon."

Carlos Santana didn't run claiming, "This shit is not for me--I don't care how enlightening it is." He offered his help through music--often playing Chinmoy's songs at meditation. But he was somewhat annoyed by group announcements that these were "Santana performances."

Santana used to describe his guru as a graduate of "many Harvards of consciousness" who sat "at the seat of God." He once said, "I'm still in [spiritual] kindergarten [and] without a guru I serve only my own vanity…I am the strings, but [Chinmoy] is the musician." However, now the accomplished musician explains "everything about [Chinmoy] turned to vinegar."

The guru apparently once preached sternly against champion tennis player Billie Jean King's homosexuality and Santana didn't like it. Something seemed to snap and he thought, "What the fuck is all this--this guy's supposed to be spiritual…mind your own spiritual business and leave her alone," he remembers thinking.

After leaving the group it seems Sri Chinmoy "was pretty vindictive," recalls Santana. "He told all my friends not to call me ever again, because I was to drown in the dark sea of ignorance for leaving him." Despite all this Santana still claims, "It was a good learning experience."


Note: Originally published in the March 16, 2000 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine, "The Epic Life of Carlos Santana,&quot By Chris Heath

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