The Cleveland Guardians are set to begin a weekend series on the road against the Minnesota Twins on Friday night.
They’re currently in the middle of a Wild Card race in the American League, holding onto the third and final spot with a 1.0-game lead over the next-closest team, the Toronto Blue Jays, who are on the outside looking in.
Ex-Guardians All-Star Still a Free Agent
Back on Aug. 16, the Atlanta Braves organization released longtime MLB player and former Guardians All-Star Carlos Santana before he ever played a game with the Braves in the majors.
Fast forward several weeks, Santana still remains a free agent on the open market and could be a useful veteran presence for a team down the stretch of the regular season, which will wrap up this month.
Braves To Release Carlos Santana From Minor League Contract https://t.co/1eeSjHS2Di pic.twitter.com/QiMZDcUZe5
— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) August 16, 2026
Santana’s Time With the Guardians
Making his debut in 2010 with Cleveland, Santana spent eight seasons with the team before making a brief stop with the Philadelphia Phillies and then ultimately returning to the Guardians in 2019, where he had the best season of his career. He earned an All-Star selection while hitting 34 home runs and recording 93 RBIs, while batting .281.
Santana remained in Cleveland until the end of the 2020 season and then made several stops while struggling to find his footing elsewhere. He spent time with the Kansas City Royals, Seattle Mariners, Pittsburgh Pirates, Milwaukee Brewers, and Minnesota Twins before once again rejoining the Guardians last year for a very short stint that didn’t last a full season, as he spent the year with the Chicago Cubs as well.
His last MLB game came this year in 2026 with the Arizona Diamondbacks, and at age 40 in his 17th year in the league, it’s unknown if he’d even have any interest in joining another organization at this point.
He holds a career batting average of .240 and has totaled 1,882 hits, 335 home runs, 1,136 RBIs, a .424 slugging percentage, and a .775 OPS.
Former Cleveland Guardians All-Star Still a Free Agent Weeks After Braves Release