Rather than have Johan Santana opt out of his contract the Baltimore Orioles purchased the contract of the left hander on Monday and then placed him on the 15-day disabled list.
Santana, 35, has been slowly working his way back from a second shoulder capsule surgery. He has been pitching in extended spring training and will soon begin a rehab assignment with the Orioles. Now that his contract has been purchased he could become a rotation option at the end of the month.
Johan Santana will pitch one more game in ext. spring. That will likely be Tues or Wed bec #Orioles want to keep on reg schedule.
— Eduardo A. Encina (@EddieInTheYard) June 3, 2014
“His rehab took a little bit longer than we had hoped,” said executive vice president Dan Duquette. “We had hoped that he’d be ready by June 1, but he’s pretty close. Our guys recommended that he probably needs a couple more starts to be ready to help our team. And on the basis of the progress he’s made on his rehab, we wanted to see the process through, so we purchased his contract for the major league club and he’ll continue his rehab.”
Thus far reports about Santana have been encouraging but nothing is guaranteed. Satnana last pitched during the 2012 season.
