As the Major League Baseball season winds down, the Pittsburgh Pirates are concluding a season that is looked at by everyone just a little bit differently.

Is 2023 a success? Is it a failure? Somewhere in the middle, perhaps?

Regardless of how exactly it is viewed by fans and/or media, the Pirates front office has most of their work cut out for them as they enter the offseason in the hopes of building upon what was undeniably a sizable improvement from 2022, at least in terms of their record.

Starting pitching is going to be what gains the most public focus, understandably so. The Pirates limped through months of the year with only two real starting pitchers in Mitch Keller and Johan Oviedo.

But similarly in a spot of great importance is the first baseman position.

Coming into the 2023 season, the Pirates had seemingly solved that question, at least for the first few months of the season. They signed a veteran first baseman out of free agency by the name of Carlos Santana.

Santana was the team’s everyday first baseman, around for Pittsburgh’s 20-8 start, and their impending collapse, as well as the first part of their up and down summer.

In all, Santana appeared in 94 games for the Pirates (out of 102 possible games), where he put up a .235 batting average. While he wasn’t known for being the most consistent hitter, he did gain recognition for his abilities as a power hitter. Santana blasted 12 home runs as a Pirate, and brought in a total of 53 runs for Pittsburgh.

Santana had a decent eye at the plate too, earning 45 walks in that same time frame.

In late July, with the MLB trade deadline approaching and the Pirates floundering (stop me if you’ve heard this story before), the Pirates dealt Santana to the Milwaukee Brewers, who were gearing up for a playoff push.

In exchange for the 37 year old Santana, the Pirates received infielding prospect Jhonny Severino. Severino, just 18 years old, is a lottery ticket type of player; you’re taking the chance that he’s gonna break through to the major leagues, but that’s gonna take at least a few years to find out.

Just a few days after trading away Santana, the Pirates acquired a new first baseman by the name of Alfonso Rivas to cover the job for the remainder of the season. Rivas, 27, had barely played at the major league level in 2023, but did have a decent amount of experience the year prior.

The Pirates have also used other players to cover the position at times as well. Utility man Connor Joe has filled in on occasion all year at first base, and most recently, the Pirates have experimented with Jared Triolo there as well.

But, it’s not a position with stability.

The first base by committee plan is not something the Pirates ideally are heading into 2024 with, instead having a clear cut everyday guy like Santana was.

So, it begs the question, could you bring Santana back?

He’s a free agent at the end of this season, and will be likely back on the open market looking for a new team.

Shortly after he was traded, Santana floated out there that he would love to return to Pittsburgh in the offseason, telling Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “I feel something in my heart for [Pittsburgh]. I had a great experience. I enjoyed my teammates and the fans who supported me.”

Santana also made it a point to say he would be very open to returning to Pittsburgh.

“It’s a business,” he said at the time. “I want to come back, but we’ll see.”

The Pirates could certainly stand to benefit from bringing Santana back. He’s been mostly the same player the Pirates knew him as since he’s played in Milwaukee.

Santana is averaging .241 at the plate for the Brewers, which is right around what he did as a Pirate.

He’s also retained, if not even expanded on the power in his swing. Santana has 10 homers in 47 games as a Brewer, which is an accelerated pace from when he was in Pittsburgh. He’s also brought in 23 runs for Milwaukee.

Santana also provided some things that you won’t see on any scoresheet. He had a big effect on rising star Oneil Cruz, even after Cruz was injured and ruled out for what would end up being the rest of the season.

He provided veteran leadership to a Pirates team that got younger and younger as the season went on. And with more youth on the way either at the start of or during the 2024 season, a guy who has been around the major leagues for around a decade and a half is a great thing to have.

To better look at solely the on-field aspect however, let’s compare him to the main first baseman since Santana was dealt away.

Alfonso Rivas has played the lion’s share of the first base duties since arriving in Pittsburgh via the Rich Hill/Ji Man Choi trade. He was seen by many as purely a stopgap player until the offseason, although Rivas himself was hoping to make a larger impression.

In 37 games with the Pirates, Rivas is batting .222, with 3 home runs and 14 RBIs on the year.

Obviously, it’s a smaller sample size for Rivas as compared to Santana, but Rivas is known for his struggles at the plate over his career.

He’s a career .240 hitter, but that’s skewed a little from his 2021 season with the Chicago Cubs, where he batted .318 in 18 games with Chicago.

Santana doesn’t have the greatest consistency, but he’s a better hitter to bet on than Rivas if you’re the Pirates. Santana brings a lot more power and a bit more luck to the plate.

On the defensive end, Santana has Rivas beat as well. To be clear, Rivas is not a bad defender, quite the opposite actually. He’s an above average player at the position and has turned some heads with nifty plays at the bag.

But Santana was a league leader on defense. He led the major leagues in defensive runs saved while as a Pirate, with 8. He consistently brought reliable defense to the first base bag, which is going to be key moving forward.

Whether it’s Rivas, Connor Joe, Jared Triolo, or anyone else the Pirates can scotch tape to the position, Santana beats them all as the best choice for the job.

The only real downside is his age. Santana will turn 38 during next season, and even if he hasn’t suffered from a drop off in production, he likely won’t be a long-term solution to the position either. He’s got at most a few years left in him, and the longer he goes, the more concern there could be that time starts to catch up to him.

Joe, 31, is the oldest player to see time at first base besides Santana this season, and bringing back Santana makes the position a lot older.

But, it’s not like he’s really bumping out any prospect from the job. Unlike many other positions on the field, the Pirates aren’t overflowing with first base prospect. If Santana is still interested in a Pittsburgh reunion, it shouldn’t be all that difficult to bring him back, especially considering there’s a very open job for him.

Santana, or maybe better known as Slamtana, had many memorable moments while a Pirate, even if it was only a few months. A reunion would be quite popular with fans, as well as his former teammates.

But more importantly, it’s a great fit for the Pirates. Even if it doesn’t solve the issue for years down the road, it eliminates a position of need for 2024, when the Pirates are hoping they can still be playing once October rolls around.

(Featured photo by Gene J/ Puskar/AP)