Really?

That was what I uttered when I heard the news. When I told my dad that the KC Royals acquired Santana, he was hoping I meant Johan from the NY Mets.

Ervin Santana during the 2011 season (Keith Allison/Flickr)

Instead…the Royals acquired Ervin Santana from the LA Angels (and some cash) for minor leaguer Brandon Sisk. I had been wondering why he hadn’t pitched over the last week in winter ball (now I know why).

It was rumored that the Angels were trying to get rid of both Santana and fellow rotation member Dan Haren before Wednesday was over because they didn’t want to have to pick up their exorbitant options.

Well, now the Royals will be paying him all that money ($13 million).

Apparently GM Dayton Moore thinks that Santana is a HUGE upgrade to their already awful rotation. REALLY? Then why have the Angels been trying to get rid of him the last two years?

The soon-to-be 30 year old has a career 96-80 record with a 4.33 ERA over eight seasons. He is a former All-Star and has thrown a no-hitter.

In 2012, Santana was a spectacular 9-13 with a 5.16 ERA. He allowed a league-high 39 homeruns. The silver lining is that, over his final ten starts, he was 5-2 with a 3.91 ERA for the playoff-pushing Angels.

I guess the Royals are looking for reclamation projects for pitching coach Dave Eiland (they also picked up Chris Volstad). I feel like the team is stocking up on pitchers who are alot like Luke Hochevar and that’s one too many

The one positive about the Santana signing is that he did have two good seasons with the Angels in 2010 (17-10 with a 3.92 ERA) and 2011 ( 11-12 with a 3.38 ERA). In those seasons, he had back-to-back 220 innings pitched. Can he return to that success? Who knows, but the Royals seem to think so.

The Royalsneed to make a 40-man roster move by Friday to make the deal official, as the roster is full. Three players are also on the 60-day DL (Danny Duffy, Felipe Paulino, and Blake Wood) and need to be added back to the roster.

Apparently, according to Moore, the Royals aren’t done wheeling-and-dealing:

“We’re not done,” Moore said. “We’re going to try to continue to upgrade our rotation through trades that make sense, continue to work internally to evaluate our young pitchers, perhaps one or two of our guys in the bullpen and we’re certainly going to explore free agency.”

*Sisk was 3-2 with a 2.54 ERA and eight saves in 50 appearances with Triple-A Omaha this season.