Royals sign Ervin Santana to minor league deal

Longtime Royals fans will remember Ervin Santana from his one season with Kansas City, a 2013 campaign in which he went 9-10 with a 3.24 ERA in 32 starts.

Eight years later he’s back, now age 38, signed to a minor league contract with the Royals. He will try to make the team in spring training.

Santana already had 96 career wins when he came to the Royals after eight seasons with the Angels in an October 2012 trade for Brandon Sisk. He enjoyed a solid season in the Kansas City rotation before leaving for the Braves as a free agent. He made 31 starts for Atlanta in 2014, then started 80 games for Minnesota from 2015-17.

The right-hander spent most of the 2018 and ’19 seasons either rehabbing injuries or pitching with Twins and White Sox minor league teams. He did not pitch in 2020.