Carlos Santana and his legacy with the Indians will be hard to define

Carlos Santana will say goodbye to the Cleveland Indians for a second time, as he has signed a deal with the Kansas City Royals for the next two years.

Carlos Santana is done as a member of the Cleveland Indians. He signed a two-year deal with the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday, ending his return to Cleveland. Santana, across two-stints with the Tribe, played 10 years in Cleveland. He spent the first eight years of his career in Cleveland before going off to Philadelphia for one year. He was then traded back to Cleveland and spent the remaining two years left on his deal with the Indians.

It was a 10-year run that saw him start climbing up the ladder for club records, and despite a bad 2020, Santana did all he could to make an impact. It was a career that will be hard to define, but one that has to be at least looked at honestly now that he’s said goodbye, again, to the team that made him a star.

Now that he’s gone, his numbers for the Indians look alright. He hit .251 for his career in Cleveland while hitting 216 home runs, 710 RBI’s, 1197 hits, and 717 runs. He also walked a whopping 881 times.

All-time, Santana ranks 5th in club history for most home runs, with only Earl Averill, Manny Ramirez, Albert Belle, and Jim Thome has hit more. Sanatana also ranks 10th in club history for doubles hit (273), second all-time in walks, second all-time in strikeouts (963), 5th all-time in double plays hit into (126).

He’s not going to ever make it to Cooperstown, nor is it even accurate to say he is one of the very best to ever don a Tribe uniform but Santana may have just been good enough to be remembered beyond his playing days positively. No statue will ever come his way but maybe, just maybe, the Indians can honor him another way.

See, when he came up he was a switch-hitting catcher, who had power, who wore number 41. Ironically, he replaced another switch-hitting catcher, who had power, who wore number 41; Victor Martinez. Both men helped define an era and both men’s numbers are almost good enough to have their number retired. The Indians would be wise to honor both men, whose combined career stretched from 2002 to 2020, by retiring the number 41 in honor of both men.

Because that’s truly what Santana’s career was since 2010, filling in for Martinez after Martinez left the team in 2009. Their history is interwoven. So why not their sendoff?