The Pirates got the right hand Kyle Keller of the Angels in exchange for cash considerations, both teams announced. To create grid space, the Pirates noted that the right hand Edgar Santana was designated for assignment.
Keller hit the DFA wire himself earlier this week, and the 27-year-old is now being traded for the second time in 15 months after joining the Angels in January 2020. He has scored in each of the past two seasons, with an ERA of 4.15 over 13 MLB innings with Miami and Los Angeles hitting 12 batsmen but also hitting ten runs.
Keller works almost exclusively as a reliever during his pro career and has an election rate of 3.53 and 31.8% over 249 2/3 careers in Miami’s farm system. Control was not nearly as much of an issue with minors (running 8.9%) as it was at the major league level for Keller, and the Pirates hope he can provide some depth for a camp staff who lose both has start-up and relief candidates up to the early stage.
Santana is no stranger to injuries, after having surgery on Tommy John in September 2018. The rehabilitation process cost Santana the entire 2019 season, after which he missed the entire 2020 due to an 80-game suspension for PED. Under the suspension conditions, Santana still had to put out the first 20 games of this season before he could be eligible to return.
Before interrupting his career, Santana delivered good results in his first two MLB seasons. The right-hander posted a 3.31 ERA / 3.77 SIERA over 84 1/3 overs from Pittsburgh’s bullpen in 2017-18, with an impressive rate of 6.8% but a percentage lower than 21% below average.