Center fielder Craig Gentry elected free agency on Wednesday this week after refusing an outright assignment from the Athletics, MLB.com’s Jane Lee tweeted. The move was expected, as Gentry has more than three years of service time (four years, 152 days, to be exact), giving him the right to test the free-agent market in lieu of an outright.
While the 32-year-old is coming off a dreadful season in which he batted just .120/.196/.200 in a small sample of 56 big league PAs and .256/.319/.327 at the Triple-A level, he’s still an intriguing addition to the market. Age difference notwithstanding, Gentry isn’t entirely dissimilar from Peter Bourjos, who was just claimed off waivers by the Phillies. In 1860 career innings in center field, Gentry has logged an eye-popping 40 Defensive Runs Saved and been worth 26.7 runs above average per 150 games played in the estimation of Ultimate Zone Rating. Though he’s nearing the end of his physical prime, if Gentry can still approximate that level of defensive acumen, he’s an intriguing fourth outfield option at the least.
A minor league deal and invite to Spring Training may be the ultimate outcome for Gentry, who went unclaimed despite a fairly modest $1.6MM arbitration projection from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. But, as a career .265/.338/.339 hitter with a lifetime slash of .274/.354/.366 against left-handed pitching, Gentry does offer skills that make him a desirable part-time player at the very least.
Speaking purely as a Padres fan here, I could see him fitting in as a 4th outfielder kind of guy in CF with Kevlar Upton Jr.
Looks like I’m so ronrey in this post
He will be a good fit for that rangers as a center fielder
Gentry is actually really solid. I wanna see him have a fulltime job somewhere, but probably wont happen.
Good guy to have on the bench. Speed, defense and a good bunter. Contending teams need a guy that can come in late in games with those tools to protect leads.
I don’t know what the Cubs may be working on behind the scenes, but at the moment we have a hole in center field and really need to fill it with a guy who can go get the baseball to make up for lackluster defense in the corners with Schwarber and Soler.
Taking a flyer on Gentry couldn’t be the worst thing in the world. If you end up signing somebody else or he tanks in spring training you can always release him.