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He’ll turn 36 in a week. Is there anything left in his tank?"tory/Hall of FameHot StoveCincinnati Reds RumorsCincinnati Reds free agent target: RHP Ervin SantanaNew http://www.bravesfanproshop.com/authentic-nick-markakis-jersey ,78commentsHe’ll turn 36 in a week. Is there anything left in his tank?deposits from the middle finger on his pitching hand in February of 2018, saw his season debut pushed to late July, and made just 5 awful starts (8.03 ERA, 7.94 FIP) before being shut down for good in mid August - pretty much the most disastrous way to re-enter free agency imaginable.Prior to Santana’s 2018 disaster, he and Happ had actually pitched rather similarly in recent seasons in terms of batted-ball data behind their already similar results. Happ, in his career, is the owner of a 40.1% ground-ball rate and 39.7% fly-ball rate, for instance, while Santana owns a nearly identical 40.2% ground-ball rate and 39.9% fly-ball rate. Both also rely on a trio of pitches - fastball, slider, and change - with Happ’s fastball averaging an even 92.0 mph in 2018 while Santana, prior to 2018, had averaged 92.7 mph and 92.9 mph in 2016 and 2017 http://www.bravesfanproshop.com/authentic-nick-markakis-jersey , respectively. The abbreviated finger-related disaster that was 2018 for Santana, however, saw his velocity plummet, as each of his three main pitches saw average velocity drops of over 3 mph, and his overall weighted pitch values went from solidly positive to negative across the board. Santana, it’s worth noting, has led all MLB pitchers in wSL since his big league debut in 2005, which is a measure of how many total runs pitchers have saved on their slider. And, in an effort to show that’s not a number that was influenced too heavily by his early career, his 21.9 wSL ranked 3rd in all MLB in the 2017 season alone, his last prior to the recurring finger issue.The question, of course, is whether or not Santana is at all recovered from the issue that plagued him for most of the entire calendar year Mike Foltynewicz Jersey , since that will ultimately impact whether any team gives him anything close to a guarantee for 2019 at his age. Considering there was distinct surgery, a lengthy 12 week rehab, and consistent recurrence of the pain that caused the initial diagnosis even after the surgery, there’s definitely some risk that it could be a longer-term problem down the road even if he appears 100% at any point this winter, too.My best guess is that we’ll see little to no action on Santana up until a point where he throws in some form of a showcase, one that I would hope like hell would include representatives from the Reds there watching. Santana and Happ, despite their similarities, are far from one-for-one comps, but the willingness for teams to potentially dole out ~$50 million guaranteed and a full 3-year contract to Happ at 36 while Santana remains completely on the periphery for now makes me wonder if there isn’t a chance for a buy-low deal for Ervin, which is exactly what I’d like to see the Reds pursue in their quest to get the pitching. Obviously, if Santana fails to prove he’s healthy, or if a potential showcase reveals a maintained loss of velocity, that’s not an avenue I’d continue to pursue http://www.bravesfanproshop.com/authentic-nick-markakis-jersey , but there is certainly a good chance that there’s more left in Santana if he can prove 2018’s injury woes were an isolated, one-time dilemma. Will the breakout continue and/or migrate to his left handed swing ?"If familiar with this series go ahead and skip to poll. If not, please read on.This series of articles will run from now until shortly before opening day. The purpose is to crowd source the D-Backs fans of this website to get a sense of how they feel about the prospects of each individual player on the 40 man roster. For this exercise I will only be using rate (average) stats and poll the readers on their sense of direction for that player’s level of basic performance, regardless of playing time expectations.I’m not including defense and base running, so no WAR here, as that is playing time dependent. You will be given two poll options:The player will either exceed the projection or under perform the projection by 5% for hitters OPS or 10% for pitchers ERA/FIP.There is no middle option to vote on. (Otherwise the majority of votes would end up agreeing with the projection).What I am looking for is if you are forced to indicate your sense of direction for the player, is it well over or under the projection?Other Points of note:Projections are the average of Steamer and ZIPS projections.(Click through for original tables)The projections draw on 3 or 4 year samples, weighting most recent seasons the heaviest, but I’m just showing 2018 and career statsin mini table below for simplicityThe player’s name is high lighted with a link to the player’s Baseball-Reference page.Click on that to see more player history and detailAge is the 2019 player age.Polls will run until mid March, so if you miss a player,you can go to the story stream box on the front page andfind a player you might have missed .Please let us know in the comments section your thoughts behind your vote. Thanks !CONTEXTKETEL MARTE , Age 25Ketel Marte has a projection for a .774 OPS.Is he likely to come in Over or Under ?