Santana deal with Phillies will drive up asking price for Martinez, Hosmer

Carlos Santana has agreed to a three-year, $60 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies, numerous reports indicate.

Presumably, there are two people very happy with this news: Carlos Santana, of course. And Scott Boras.

If Santana can get $20 million per, albeit on a shorter deal, what does that mean for two Boras clients - J.D. Martinez and Eric Hosmer?

Santana is a nice player. He's a switch hitter, gets on base a lot (.365 career OBP) and has topped .800 in OPS in each of the last two seasons.

But that doesn't mean he's as valuable as Hosmer -- who's four years younger and a better defender -- or Martinez, who's two years younger and has much more power.

Here's Santana's average 162-game season, as computed by BaseballReference.com: .249/.365/.445; 25 HR; 85 RBI and a 121 OPS+

And here's Hosmer: .284/.342/.439 20 HR; 87 RBI; 111 OPS+

Now, arguably, those two are rather close offensively, with Santana even holding a slight power edge. But remember that Hosmer is four years younger and a much more accomplished first baseman. And factor in Hosmer's leadership capabilities.

Finally, here's Martinez:  .285/.342/.514; 32 HR; 100 RBI; 130 OPS+

Putting aside the length of term, let's focus on AAV (annual average value). If Santana is $20 million annually, then a case could be made that Hosmer will come in at $25 million and Martinez closer to $30 million.

A signing like this perfectly illustrates why it is that Boras often waits so long into the offseason to get deals done for his clients. The longer you wait, the more likely it is that someone else will sign a deal like the one signed by Santana, thus raising the bar for players already judged to be superior.