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Saturday, March 31, 2007

MLB: Rays keep Gomes, send Cantu down

This is no joke to Cantu…

“What can I say, I’m not a Minor League player,” Cantu said. “I think a change of scenery would be best.”

Cantu elaborated by saying he asked the Rays to trade him.

“And it’s just for the best,” Cantu said. “I don’t have anything to prove down there. I guess I have to go.”

Rays manager Joe Maddon explained the decision.

“We just chose Jon’s bat right now,” Maddon said. “Jorge, we just felt like there was a lack of a position. Jon, we feel we can put him in the outfield now because he is functional. Jorge, we weren’t going to play him at second base. We didn’t see first base as a viable option right now. And we had other things we wanted to do with the DH role. On all three counts, it kind of knocked him out of there.”

Repoz Posted: March 31, 2007 at 12:17 PM | 24 comment(s)
Related News: General, Tampa Bay

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1. Teheran's Uranium Enriched Missiles Posted: March 31, 2007 at 11:42 AM (#2321321)

So they are losing Cantu so as to guarantee Norton and Wiggington spots? nice going

2. Jim Wisinski is waiting till next year Posted: March 31, 2007 at 12:08 PM (#2321326)

It's not as if Cantu is any great prize himself. He has power and nothing else, including any semblance of defensive ability. It's stupid that it came down to Gomes or Cantu but Cantu going down is no great loss.

3. Cowboy Popup Posted: March 31, 2007 at 12:42 PM (#2321339)

I like this move, Cantu is not really good because he's so terrible in the field and at not making outs, and it probably takes some pressure of Upton, who obviously feels a whole bunch of pressure right now. If he has a good start to the season in AAA, trade him to the Mets.

4. RMc is the Commissioner of Baseball Posted: March 31, 2007 at 01:22 PM (#2321346)

He has power and nothing else, including any semblance of defensive ability.

Gee, it's too bad the Rays don't play in a league where a player is allowed to bat without having to take the field. Oh, wait...

5. Jim Wisinski is waiting till next year Posted: March 31, 2007 at 01:29 PM (#2321350)

Gee, it's too bad the Rays don't play in a league where a player is allowed to bat without having to take the field. Oh, wait

Gee, that .311 OBP would sure look freaking great from the DH spot. Hence the "nothing else besides power" part of what I said.

6. 2ndedition Posted: March 31, 2007 at 01:53 PM (#2321358)

I always thought the Devil Rays had great potential. But it just seems as if they can never convert it to kinetic - mostly because mostly they're clueless in the trade market and unwilling to trade any of their excess "potential" in the outfield for the actual players they need. Demanding to receive full dollar value on that "potential" they wind up loosing Huff and sending Cantu to the minors. If they had traded either of them at the top of their games they could have had the starting pitching they desperately need (and incidently still had an outfield with plenty of "potential"). The problem with the Rays is the front office.

7. willcarrollsux Posted: March 31, 2007 at 02:01 PM (#2321360)

This means that Tim McCarver will no longer be doing this:

Jorge Cantu... (his standard pregnant pause to telegraph what he believes to be either a side-splitting joke or a sublime insight) ... CAN DO!

Which is a good thing.

8. The New Gloucester Whaler Posted: March 31, 2007 at 02:31 PM (#2321371)

Gee, it's too bad the Rays don't play in a league where a player is allowed to bat without having to take the field. Oh, wait...

The answer is so simple as to hardly be believable...trade Cantu to the Tampa Bay Black Sox.

9. rlc Posted: March 31, 2007 at 03:00 PM (#2321374)

- Jorge can't hit!

- Jorge Cantu!

- Jorge can't field!

...crickets...

10. xdog Posted: March 31, 2007 at 04:33 PM (#2321393)

Space, if you hadn't posted the Black Sox link, I never would have read that "BASEBALL HAS EVOVLED!!!".

11. Crispix Attacks is in the best shape of his life. Posted: March 31, 2007 at 04:53 PM (#2321397)

It does seem odd that Cantu is being sent down. He does one thing very well. What does Ty Wigginton do well? Scoop up grounders that are hit right to him? Set new records for "lowest risk, lowest reward"?

12. battlekow Posted: March 31, 2007 at 05:05 PM (#2321401)

Actually, it seems to me that Ty Wigginton does the same thing as Jorge Cantu: hit for reasonable power while posting poor OBPs, but he also passably fields several positions.

13. Joe C and the Pop Culture Portmanteau Posted: March 31, 2007 at 05:05 PM (#2321402)

What does Ty Wigginton do well?

Um, play 5 positions and hit .330/.470? That's more valuable than Jorge Cantu.

14. Greg Schuler Posted: March 31, 2007 at 06:15 PM (#2321416)

Demanding to receive full dollar value on that "potential" they wind up loosing Huff

Umm, the Rays traded Huff to Houston for Mitch Talbot and Ben Zobrist last season. I guess you are inferring that the Rays could have traded him sooner and gotten more, but that was a different regime.

15. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Griffin (Vlad) Posted: March 31, 2007 at 06:48 PM (#2321432)

1) Tampa got good value for Huff.
2) Cantu is a horrible defender, he seems to be one of those guys who doesn't improve on defense when moved to a less-challenging position, and he doesn't hit enough to be a good DH. He might improve enough to DH in the future (only 25 this year), but then again, he might not (#1 sim score comp: Fernando Tatis).

16. Dayton Moore is a Big Fat Idiot (AG#1F) Posted: March 31, 2007 at 06:48 PM (#2321433)

Elijah Dukes will be the first "Elijah" in the big leagues since Elijah "Pumpsie" Green. Let that sink in.

17. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Griffin (Vlad) Posted: March 31, 2007 at 06:51 PM (#2321438)

Also, Cantu has a really weird list of sim scores, including a 924 for both Jim Thome and Gil McDougald.

18. buddy Posted: March 31, 2007 at 08:32 PM (#2321472)

brendan harris over cantu is a strange enough decision. but salas and ryu and shawn camp over chad orvella?

19. Dayton Moore is a Big Fat Idiot (AG#1F) Posted: April 01, 2007 at 11:12 AM (#2321622)

Can anyone else remember a 23 year old having an 100 RBI season and being sent to the minors two years later?

20. MSI Posted: April 01, 2007 at 11:38 AM (#2321628)

Cantu is now complaining that he won't go to AAA and demands a trade.

But is Cantu really that good? His power was good for one season, and his minor league numbers were flat and then he just exploded for one good season, and continued it in the majors. Then there was last year. Yes his bat wasn't that bad, but apparently his fielding was. I wonder if he'd be better suited for an outfield spot. WHy don't the Marlins trade for him and use him in the OF?

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/C/Jorge-Cantu.shtml

21. The District Attorney Posted: April 01, 2007 at 11:48 AM (#2321633)

Well, McDougald wasn't Thome, but he was pretty damn good.

Cantu probably belongs at 1B (assuming his hitting improves with less defensive responsibility...), but I can see why the D-Rays aren't interested in it when they have Guzman, Bankston, Dukes, Gomes, etc., and I can also see why few other teams would be interested in taking a guy coming off a 78 OPS+ and making him their 1B. I dunno how long it will take for the stars to align in such a way that he gets into a position where he can succeed. I do think Upton is better off at 2B, and that his development should have priority over Cantu's.

22. Jim Wisinski is waiting till next year Posted: April 01, 2007 at 11:57 AM (#2321637)

I wonder if he'd be better suited for an outfield spot. WHy don't the Marlins trade for him and use him in the OF?

He's pretty damn slow, I don't know if he could be even an average defender out there. That's another problem with his offense besides the low OBP, he's a negative on the basepaths and grounds into a lot of DPs.

23. battlekow Posted: April 01, 2007 at 11:59 AM (#2321640)

Can anyone else remember a 23 year old having an 100 RBI season and being sent to the minors two years later?

Not sure what this guy's story is, but if he did get sent to the minors, it certainly wasn't for poor performance.

24. The District Attorney Posted: April 01, 2007 at 12:02 PM (#2321642)

Not sure what this guy's story is, but if he did get sent to the minors, it certainly wasn't for poor performance.

His boomstick intimidated the other players.

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Saturday, March 31, 2007

MLB: Rays keep Gomes, send Cantu down

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