SUNDAY, 9:04pm: The Rangers are in "ongoing conversations" with the Marlins regarding Cantu, tweets Rosenthal. He adds that the Marlins are also talking to the Rockies and Giants about the infielder, while Texas remains interested in Wigginton.
2:56pm: Ken Rosenthal tweets that the Rangers are also very interested in Ty Wigginton. Texas sent three scouts to watch Wigginton on Friday night when the Orioles faced off against the Twins.
Like Cantu, Wigginton is a free agent after the season. He's earning $3.5MM in 2010, and has $1.35MM of that left coming to him. Wigginton's lower price tag, versatility, and superior production may make him a more attractive option than Cantu. His OPS checks in at .771 compared to Cantu's .721.
SATURDAY: The Rangers are making a strong push for Marlins infielder Jorge Cantu as the deadline approaches, writes T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com. Texas is in search of a right-handed hitting backup first baseman and the 28-year-old is high on the team's list.
Cantu is set to earn $2MM over the final two months of the season, a price the Rangers can't afford. However, the judge presiding over the club's bankruptcy case told the Rangers earlier this week that he has the power to have MLB extend their line of credit, which would make it possible for them to add payroll.
In recent weeks other teams have been said to have interest in Cantu, including the Giants, Rockies, and Angels.
I guess they could platoon him with Davis, but he seems to be better than a platoon player. In that case it looks a bit like overkill if they actually do get him. It’s understandable why they want him, but is it really necessary? Just get Lowell, Willingham, or Helms.
Please trade him…anything you can get for him is a steal…he has been TERRIBLE since April.
who says the fish are ready to sell? Their recent hotstreak has kept them in the race.
He’s too talented to be a backup, especially at first base.
How can someone be a backup for a guy on the bad side of the Mendoza line unless he, in fact, has no arms?
I suspect he’d get the majority of the PT.
Why do we need him though, he’s been nothing more then dead weight both in the field and in the lineup, I’d rather be winning with Coghlan at 3rd and Logan Morrison in leftfield…
100% agree
He is the best of the bunch we are interested in. I’d take him over Lowell and Wigginton. And he absolutely mashes LHP….
He’d also be roster upgrade over Arias, who rarely plays. Blanco is a better defender in the Utl. inf. role, and a switch hitter.
I think Cantu would be a good pick up for Texas. The guy should be playing first anyway, not third. Plus, they have been looking for someone all year. Lowell is no good, O’s want a young SS for Wiggy, and Garko didn’t work out. He is better than Arias and German. They should go for it because obviously they are shaky on Davis and who knows how the rest of the year will go for him. They are going to need all 9 guys in the lineup to contribute if they win the division and hope to get by the Yanks.
Got to be honest, here..
I don’t like what’s going on with Texas, at all. I don’t care if their owner screwed the situation up, I don’t care how much the banks are owed, or whether the dudes trying now can afford the team.
Every other team is paying for Texas to get better and that’s not right.
Agreed. Not sure why there isn’t more outrage about this.
Actually, no that is not true. Every provision they are using is in the MLB franchise agreement and most of the funds are the funds designated by the MLB from the sale of the Expos that have been put aside for every team for use in cases like this. This is not a case of the Rangers taking 2 of 3M from every team in the league but instead a draw off of one of the many slush funds in the MLB.
The Rangers are approximately 5 to 10M ahead of their proposed budget right now, the problem is the BR proceedings have froze the team to use only the proposed budget without approval…
The Red Sox are over the budget they’d like to spend as well. Is MLB going to throw them some money to acquire another ace and some other complimentary pieces? If not, Texas shouldn’t be getting money either.
Give them a timeline to sell, force Hicks OUT of the picture where he still is trying to wriggle himself into the new ownership group somehow. Hicks has been the entire problem all along.
Too many teams involved with too many flimsy owners. better scrutiny before they are allowed in. No more Charles O’Finley types we are seeing, or built on a house of cards types like Hicks.
I don’t think you are understanding what the problem is. It isn’t that Texas is not making money nor that the MLB is being forced to keep them afloat. The problem lies that in a BR plan a budget had to be submit initially when all of this started. Since then the Rangers revenues are 5 to 10M over the projected submitted plan. Texas just wants access to the money.
What I understand is a club that is in the process of defaulting on hundreds of millions of dollars in previous loans is being floated more loans. I seem to find that pretty unacceptable.
Actually the club has defaulted on zero loans. The parent company that owns the Rangers have. The only reason why the Rangers are in BR is that they are trying to be sold away or severed from the parent company. The Rangers themselves have nothing to do with this. They are just a secondary asset. There is a reason why both the Rangers and Stars are being sold at the same time. They are both assets of the Hicks Sports group that is in default. This is happens with subsidiary assets when dealing with part companies and subsidiaries. The only reason this is dragging out so long is that the Rangers are the more valuable of the assets being liquidated.The Rangers made no decisions to make the parent company default. They made no move to put the parent company in this situation. The real problem lies at the feet of the lenders writing loans on an unsecured asset that they never fully checked out. To compound the problem, after the initial lender realized they screwed up they sold a large portion of the outstanding debt to a predatory lender for pennies on the dollar that was is attempting to treat this like any other BR action and tie this up in court and get their pound of flesh. The problem is that this is the first time they have ever dealt with a professional sports team in the manner and did not research MLB’s rights and powers in the whole ordeal. Because of this they have fought the process the whole way. The sad part is that the lenders are looking at losing money now because they are fighting this thing. It went from an approximate 30M difference in value that could be made up in the sale of the other assets to something in the 45M to 50M range plus now all of the legal fees. The lenders don’t want to back down because their is some serious egos involved and since they bought the defaulted loans at a discount can hold out expecting the company to eventually give in. The problem is that MLB has much much more power in the situation than they have used so far. All this really shows is that you are spending to much time listening to the sound bites and not enough time researching the actual situation.
“Actually the club has defaulted on zero loans. The parent company that owns the Rangers have.”That’s really the point. I know that Ron Washington and Vlad Guererro aren’t defaulting on the loans. They don’t own the team. Until this mess is sorted out, they shouldn’t be receiving any more loans, *regardless* of who is at fault. Period. “The Rangers themselves have nothing to do with this.”Just their ownership. Got it. Surprising that suddenly the Rangers are looking to add whatever they can while they’re allowed to borrow more money. I’ve never seen a team talk about adding as many pieces as they say they’d like to. It’s nice when you can operate on other people’s dime. Unfortunately for the rest of the teams in MLB, we didn’t run our teams into the ground so we have to operate on our own income.
I’m a Met fan and would love to get Cantu out of the division. He’s been killing the Mets this whole year. Also he should not be backup and the LEAST he should be is a platoon at firstbase.
Looks Like Shelly Duncan Cleveland back up at 1st and Left Field and Right Field would be a better fit he has done very well in a part-time role with the Indians righthanded power bat off the bench and he has great numbers this year also as a pinch hitter.
who do you think the Rangers would give up for him? I’m not that familiar with the team and its players
Wigginton’s OPS since May 23 (last 50 games) is .609. For perspective, Juan Pierre’s OPS since May 26 (last 50 games) is .601. Don’t know what he offers right now.
if the Giants can get Cantu for cheap they should consider it. he seems to always be a pretty clutch hitter
Rangers would only get worse with either one of those guys.. Wiggington and never been an everyday starter until he went to Baltimore.. he’s an Equivalent to an Aaron Miles type player at best.. Cantu… not much to say about him .. he’s could be considered best as coming off the bench for a PH at the most… because he plays for the Marlins.. they have no choice but to start him when they only have 2 players..
No matter what the Angels are not winning the AL West
The Giants? Is Sabean trying to break a record for the most first basemen on a roster?
I guess he’s like Jim Hendry .. about 2 yrs ago the Cubs had 5-6 2nd baseman on the 25 man roster.. plus thats when everyone was on Brian Roberts’ d*** for some reason.. many ppl wanted roberts over DeRosa which i dont get.. DeRosa is 1000x better then Roberts ever was or will be.. however Baltimore should trade Wiggington for a PTBNL later or cash Fox is way better then him.. Fox can play 4 other positions very just as good as he plays 1st..
Mark Derosa 1000x the player Roberts will be or has been? is this comedy hour or something?
Why would it be a Comedy hr.. I guarantee your the only baseball fan that thinks Roberts is better then DeRosa.. Roberts only has one thing that DeRosa doesn’t that’s speed.. Fielding contact, power and ability to play 1st,2nd, 3rd, LF and RF is way more valuable then Roberts could ever do.. Plus Roberts is on or at some point last or the yr before borrowed the needle from A-Rod and cheated…
GET OSWALT!!!!!! mets can afford to get a player like him.. trade franceour and prospects for him. WE WANT OSWALT!!!!