Cubs' signing of Carlos Santana adds a big safety net at a key defensive position

Some Chicago Cubs fans might still be wondering why the club decided to pick up veteran first baseman Carlos Santana. While the 39-year-old infielder has had an exceptional career, boasting 335 homers and ranking as MLB's active leader in walks (1,330), he was released by Cleveland due to declining offensive performance and the desire to pursue opportunities with a playoff contender. While he arrives with a bat that looks to be running on empty (.225/.316/.333), he does still boast a nice glove at first.

Santana is not taking the bulk first base duties away from Michael Busch (barring injury), but he can bring some defensive insurance in certain situations. Busch has made some incredible plays at first, and last year looked like he was really climbing his way up with the glove, finishing with 5 DRS (defensive runs saved), 2 OAA (outs above average), and 2 FRV (fielding run value). Even while still making some great plays this year, his overall defense has been "meh". Busch currently sports a -3 OAA and -2 FRV at first, and 0 DRS. Not awful, not great.

Defensive metrics love Carlos Santana's work at first base this season

Santana is quietly one of the better defenders at first. Last year, he won a Gold Glove. This season, he boasts second among qualifying first basemen in OAA (7) and FRV (5) behind Ty France and DRS (11) behind Matt Olson. Per Fielding Bible's Plus/Minus runs saved above average (rPM), Santana is tied for first (10) with Olson in that category. As for traditional stats, Santana's 2 errors are tied for the second-fewest among qualifiers.

Hard to expect much from his bat at this point, although you never know. At least he has shown he can still be a very steady force at first. Defensive substitutions late in crucial games are a big part of this time of year, and Santana could potentially be a part of that. We saw Justin Turner come into games late for various reasons, and in a smaller sample size sports an FRV and OAA of 1 at first. Regardless, Santana is now the best defensive first baseman on the roster.

Whatever Craig Counsell does...just do not put him in at catcher (where he has not played in over a decade). That career -53 DRS and -77.8 FRM is the reason he moved positions.