It probably doesn't mean anything, but apparently, the reanimated market for Ervin Santana is interesting enough to the Royals front office that they placed a call to his representatives.
Ervin Santana update 8 pm ET: #Braves muy interesados, pero sin presupuesto. #Royals lo llamó. En pie ofertas de #BlueJays y #Orioles.
— Enrique Rojas/ESPN (@Enrique_Rojas1) March 11, 2014
The last report on the matter in regard to the Royals was the "I don't see a fit" report from the Kansas City Star's Andy McCullough, so this is sort of news. It probably won't amount to anything, but maybe Dayton Moore will become enamored with the idea of re-signing Santana to a one-year deal and somehow convince David Glass to let him scoop up more of the crumbs under the owners' table.
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Which is to say, Santana probably isn't coming back.
But he might ... I guess.
It's hard to tell, because in Moore's world, NOTHING IS TRUE, and EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED*.
*Yes, that's from Assassin's Creed, but they took it from a 1938 novel by Valdimir Bartol called Alamut, in which the Hashashin -- the Arabic root word for the English "assassin" -- supposedly represent the TIGR, an antifascist group in Austria during the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. But before Ezio Auditore borrowed it from Bartol, Bartol borrowed it from everyone's favorite German invalid Friedrich Nietzsche, who coined a similar phrase in Thus Spoke Zarathustra -- or at least that's what I learned from Wikipedia.
Santana would make the front of the Royals' rotation look better, but it would also mean the Royals would likely begin the season with Yordano Ventura in the minors -- or worse, in the bullpen. Ventura would probably fare well there and we all know how they hate to "fix" things that aren't broken. Like Aaron Crow, perhaps.
With James Shields, Santana, Jason Vargas, Jeremy Guthrie, and Bruce Chen in the rotation, and Danny Duffy also vying for starts, the Royals top prospect -- one of the only pitching prospects worth getting excited for during the Moore Administration -- might suffer the consequences.
Ventura might not be able to match Santana pitch for pitch in 2014 -- then again, he might -- but the long-term implications could be less than desirable. Too bad the Royals jumped out ahead of the market and signed Jason Vargas. Realistically, you can't really fault them for what they couldn't have predicted, but since things have played out this way, it would probably be best to let Santana go and pick up the extra selection in what appears to be a loaded draft.
If it were my decision to make -- hahahahaahahahahha -- I'd let him walk and attack the draft with the aggression of a thousand quarreling Dobermen.