The Rays will designate first baseman C.J. Cron for assignment, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports on Twitter. He had been projected by MLBTR to earn $5.2MM in arbitration.
That’s just one of a flurry of late-breaking 40-man moves for the Rays. Relievers Oliver Drake and Hoby Milner were also designated, while right-hander Jose Mujica was outrighted.
All those precious roster spaces were needed to allow the team to add a host of new talent — and thereby protect it from the upcoming Rule 5 draft. Lefties Kyle Bird and Brock Burke, righty Ian Gibaut, and outfielders Joe McCarthy and Jesus Sanchez are all now on the 40-man.
It’ll certainly come as a surprise to some that Cron is on his way out of Tampa Bay. After all, the club was rewarded for nabbing him from the Angels last year. Cron drove the ball over the fence thirty times and produced a strong 122 wRC+ with his .253/.323/.493 slash.
Of course, the Rays rarely rest on their laurels — or indulge in excessive spending. While Cron isn’t slated to command an immense salary, and the Rays actually have ample payroll space with which to work, the earning power of players of his kind has been gutted in recent years. That’s not to say that another organization won’t see the value. It doesn’t hurt that Cron is still controllable for another campaign.
They should DFA that jersey. That’s hideous.
fact
That’s a players weekend jersey, dudes.
The more you know…
Doesn’t make it less ugly lol
we need a like button for this
……and that ballpark.
Lol yea.
Sorry guys that jersey is fuego i love it… im a new yorker a mets fan who lives in orlando and admires the rays. Not sure why the colors are hated so much.
Ok?
Don’t talk about the 2019 World Series champs that way!
that should DFA the franchise to a city that wants to watch baseball. playing for like 17 fans a night can’t be too bueno.
He played better than Eric Hosmer.
Yep! Nice work, Pads.
He just can’t find a legitimate place to stay in. He’s a good guy to have as a bench bat to get 1 start every 7-8 days against a weak LH starter.
Not bad stats. DH guy though, marginal value as such.
He’s servicable as a 1B who starts every 7-8 days. He’d be valuable in the NL to pinch hit for pitchers or in key situations. I could see the Mets, Nationals, or Pirates.
The Mets have Wilmer Flores, who can cover other IF positions too; they don’t need Cron.
But they need his 30 homeruns
Yeah, let’s bury him on the bench. Are you on drugs? If you arent, you should be.
Rays are weird as fk… why not trade him and get something!
They basically gave away Corey Dickerson last year, and he transformed into a defensive stud in Pittsburgh.
Gave away lol? Check the prospects we got for him? And saved all that money? Very smart move. And mallex was all around better
You did give him away for virtually nothing, though. Glasnow, Baz and Meadows came over in the Archer (which I love from a Rays perspective) trade which had nothing to do with Dickerson. All you got for Dickerson was Daniel Hudson (who never pitched for you) and a soon to be 23 year old middle infielder who hasn’t touched AA ball yet.
What prospects did they get. From what I remember they got a veteran rp Hudson maybe, who cost 4 million. Dickerson should have been kept for the offer we got. They also might not have signed C Gomez, which would have saved 4 million. Dickerson could have been traded after the first month when injury and/or lack of production would have made him more desirable to another team. I don’t know if he deserved it but seeing as how he won a gold glove, (and his hot start) it seems like his value would have been at its peak. Bad decision by the Ray’s on both these guys. Seattle probably would have given us someone for him. Why not trade him for ibm, or as part of a trade for a draft pick, maybe both.
1. I’m pretty sure the only person the Rays got back in the Dickerson trade was Daniel Hudson(veteran reliever who was immediately dumped by the Rays). They basically gave up an allstar caliber player for a pack of bubblegum. Probably one of the worst trades of the 2010’s
2.These prospects you’re talking about probably came from the Chris Archer trade; that was a good trade for the Rays.
3. The Rays didn’t save that much money by trading Dickerson. As a matter of fact Hudson’s salary is very close to Dickerson’s
4. Even if you prefer Mallex Smith over Corey Dickerson, you don’t have him anymore.
I’m not stupid lol. Everyone jump on my case assuming. Why don’t you look upppppp the deal to see who we got. Y’all look clueless trying to throw me down when you don’t even know the trade lol
You got Daniel Hudson, who almost made it out of spring training, and a 13th round pick second baseman–in other words, spoiled hamburger. If you don’t want people to ridicule you, don’t say ridiculous things.
From what I read everyone was very nice to you. Don’t double down on a bad take. Just move on and learn from your mistake.
I’m not saying we got anyone important but saying we only got Hudson to try and prove their point is being ignorant. We saved money and mallex was better than Dickerson. So how’s that trade dumb to anyone?
I wasn’t trying to come off harsh to you. If it sounded like that I apologize.
I do agree with you about the Rays mostly. They usually are a cheap but smart organization who knows how to put together a winning team on a budget(Dodgers should take notes here). Their roster is bursting with young cheap talent and that’s awesome.
I was just trying to say that the Dickerson trade was a very bad move by the Rays all-around. No excuse to give up a player producing almost 4 WAR for nothing. But even with all that said, the Rays will definetely be in the playoff hunt next year; Especially if they pick up some good assests in the offseason.
Because you could have gotten more.
They don’t need to look it up. Unlike you, they know it.
You said prospects, plursl. They got one.
No one important, yet you can’t figure out why it was dumb.
Dickerson only had 2 years of Club control left like Cron but the Rays acquired T. Pham & they have KK, Sanchez, McCarthy, Heredia & Meadows (all of them have 3+ years of team control left).
And??
Still 10 days to trade him.
New CBA changed it to 7.
You think they didn’t try and trade him lol?????? Rays are by far one of the smartest organizations in baseball.
So smart they have yet to win a title.
Rays are Consistently doing more with less. Innovating to win in a market that shouldn’t have an MLB. Not a knock on the fans, just a statement about the market size.
How about a cap where teams like the Rays, Reds, and so many more can compete financially on a financial level playing field.
So you only have to be smart to win a title? Hm. I’ll write that down
Kilroy was here
ey has deep pockets!!!
How about don’t build a baseball franchise in a market that can’t support it so that you don’t end up on baseball welfare, or for the pc crowd, revenue sharing.
They play in Tampa. They play in the AL East. They’re still in the playoff hunt every year and are always entertaining to watch. I’d consider that a hell of a lot better than half of the MLB at least.
How about no more socialism style baseball? How about we quit expanding into areas that can’t support it? You want competition, contract some teams,
Then they should have taken the best offer they got.
You know someone would offer something.
Dont have a career year with the Rays. You’ll get DFA’d (Corey Dickerson)
But he did have a career year
Straight over your head buddy.
Ha. This.
Great example of why you need to consider your comments before posting. After 5 minutes there is no delete button. >=}
Does he play a passable 1b?
The Rays made a few good moves this offseason (Merritt, Heredia) but generally don’t have a great front office.
Yes.
Not like the Phillies.
Dislike
I’m sorry, what?
Gimmick franchise, what a joke
Why would they change the way they do business…Corporate welfare from the rest of the league will continue to support them, Corperate welfare hard at work
A joke that we cut a .200 hitter when we have young players who are better pushing him out of the way… so glad you don’t run a team
No, it’s a joke that your franchise exists only because of revenue sharing… and The Trop is a joke of a ballpark
Over the past 20 years I’ve probably been 75 games there, the only redeeming quality of going to Tropicana field is watching the 3000 butthurt Rays fans trying to out cheer the 15,000 Red Sox and Yankee fans
St. Petersburg gets loads of their revenue from idiot tourist who come down to watch Yankee and Red Sox play for a couple weeks every year so no need to invest in a new ballpark until it is practical. And what does the 40 man roster moves have to do with the ballpark? As a Rays fan I’m pretty excited about the ridiculous amount of young talent they have..now.
The location sucks but the trop itself really isn’t what everyone makes it out to be lol. Everyone likes to dog it because that’s the cool thing to do. A cool 72 with no rain or blinding sunshine sounds fantastic to me
As a local to the Trop a big rays fan who averages about 10 games a year i go to home games. I recommend our county finally offer the Rays a buyout (500 mill)of the 8 years left on the Trop contract and let them leave the area if they want. We should get lots of money our County can offer for our Parks, beaches, Minor teams etc.
Who will they get for less than 4.7 million to bat rh’ed and come with another year of control?
BJ Upton
They aren’t looking for cheaper. They want a more feared and proven hitter. Not someone who hits 30 homers once and hits close to .200 sorry. They want a Donaldson or Cruz. True power guys. And they still say they haven’t ruled out bringing back cron later on but just don’t want to commit to him right now this early
Who’s stats did you look at because that wasn’t Cron’s.
Just like last offseason. Bunch of hitters that finished having good HR hitting seasons & what did they do the following year? How many signed huge deals? Cron had little value & teams know they can sign him for less as a FA to hit some HRs.
Huh?
So you would prefer to lose up to 5 younger players that offer more upside & more long term team control than a guy who even tho mashed 30hr only knocked in 70-ish RBIs & his RISP Avg was low .200s?
J. Abreu only hit 20 less HRs but had more RBIs.
Why?
He carried a much higher RISP Avg
Rays can add a player later in the offseason to plug into a DH/1B role.
I have also been a Rays season ticket holder for over 10years now & they are my MLB team.
so sorry to hear you’ve been wasting money for over 10 years.
How can you attend that joke 81 times a year.
By far the worst ball park I’ve ever been to
Can’t be worse than Texas or Oakland. I’ve been to both and both are the two worst I’ve ever been to. Never been to any east coast BPs so I don’t know about Tropicana.
Texas is at least building a nice park. I’ve been to Arlington and thought it was ok…never been out west, but I hear the Coliseum is gross
I’ve been to the coliseum and the trop. Coliseum is worse by far. Trop is dated, coliseum is worn out and broken.
Ya..been to Oakland’s ballpark. Pretty bad.
To paraphrase Brad Pitt in Moneyball (in which he ironically played Billy Beane): “You see, there’s the good stadiums, then the bad stadiums, then there’s 50 feet of crap, and then there’s the Oakland Coliseum.”
90 wins this past season.
From ’08 to ’13 playoffs every season + a WS appearance.
Cron played less & less during the last 60 days.
There is still a offseason to go & time to upgrade the roster.
Cron only had 2 years of team control left & the 5 guys they protected can help the team starting this upcoming season or next.
Go Rays!
(If you don’t like them Oh Well!)
(In between the team still missed the playoffs with guys like Dickerson etc & had under 82 wins each season)
Rays are working on a new stadium. Vince N. The previous majority owner signed a crappy lease with St. Pete to build the Trop. That lease held the Rays hostage for a long time. I have a friend who thinks that is the norm & constantly bashes Stu even tho he never goes to games outside of those $10 tickets/free games.
How many cowbells do you bring? Pretty sad that you have to use props to create crowd noise
The Extra 2% by Jonah Keri while probably a bit dated as far as overall team approach it provides good reasoning and numbers as to why Baseball has it rough fanbase wise down here. I hope at least enough that you realize your making yourself look like a cowbell on this board.
I don’t use cowbells.
But to your point about crowd noise when the true fans (ones that show up & fight the traffic) bring what they can.
The people of St. Pete have failed to support the Rays in terms of going to games. Over half the season ticket holders live outside of St. Pete (I am one of them).
The dangers of sample size – for example, Cron hit .214/.333/.571 with RISP and 2 outs. That’s a .905 OPS – real good. His Late & Close + Tie Game hitting stats were elite, also.
Scoop Hoby Milner up!
I bet John Mozeliak is getting an itch seeing this low hanging fruit….
Sad but true
I mean he’s not an elite hitter and he’s a R/R DH/1st. He had an above average K rate and below average BB rate. In a league in which power is readily available, did he do anything else that was spectacular? I feel like it’s being made clear how replaceable 1b/DH guys are if they are not elite hitters or provide versatility. And seems like the Rays continue to distance themselves from those type of guys, high power high K, if they don’t provide other value. This shouldn’t be a shock seemed inevitable.
Who really needs a dh/1st baseman? I also wonder why teams keep overpaying 1st baseman. Santana, Myers, Hosmer…etc
Legit markets demand a few well known names to sell tickets. The Rays can throw out any player whenever they want because their business model relies on profit sharing, not ticket and merch sales.
How much more would it take to get Louis Robert off the White Sox or Pint off the Rockies. Pint doesn’t seem much farther off to me in value where as I don’t know if I’d want to give up the extra prospects/player for Robert. Just wondering if anyone here fast this stuff down.
I doubt the White Sox are willing to move Robert during a rebuild
I can’t believe Cron was DFA’d. Definitely someone the Mets should target and then pair Syndergaard & Alonso in a trade for a massive haul.
I have a difficult time believing he won’t get picked up by somebody. I don’t feel bad for Cron. He’ll find a landing spot. If you follow baseball pretty close we have all see the Ray’s do this with players who will get a desent raise in arbitration.
I’m sure the Rays made every attempt to trade Cron, just couldn’t find any takers. It’s a pretty limited skill set, and if other teams start aping the Red Sox (and Rays) and start emphasizing contact, he actually drags down the offense; too many K’s, clogs the bases, “meh’ at best defense. 5M is a lot to pay for that.
Cron is at best a 2nd division regular, and the Rays fancy themselves in contention. They can find better uses for the 5M. They’re selling it as a roster crunch, which is nonsense; like Schultz and Faria will be jumped on by anybody. But Rays fans, well…….they believe Stuie if he tells them poop is ice cream…..
Nonetheless, it’s the right move…..
I can’t believe they couldn’t trade Cron! If so why not keep him on the payroll till we find his replacement and then trade him when another team gets desperate for fair compensation. Maybe a 2.5 mill commitment? Cron was clutch when we needed him. We did this with Cory and got Tristin Grey and Hudson so maybe we’ll be offered something now. However we would have been covered if we can’t acquire a better RH-DH. Our front office is smart but cheap and the game/players suffer for it.
Because now we don’t owe him anything and there’s plenty of guys we can get to replace him instantly.
How much of it was coming out of your pocket as part owner?
None. But that’s just common sense. Why would you pay someone you don’t really want just because you may not find a replacement when players like that are very easy to come by. The rays are so stupid for dfa him but no other team wanted to pay him that either obviously …
Who are we really going to acquire? And don’t give me Goldsmidt, Donaldson or Neson Cruz. Everyone is in on them and our FO has no experience in a bidding war! Cron was good for us.
Cruz or Donaldson lol
I guess I’ll never understand the Rays.
Pretty sure a stadium that takes in raw sewage like Oakland has to be the worst
Cron was designated because the Rays believe they have better options. Keirmeir, Pham, and Meadows in the OF, Bauer’s and Choi round out 1B and DH, with plenty of youngsters to fill in the gaps.
Oakland’s Coliseum is a dump.. I have seen the transformation of a football stadium into poor baseball park thanks to Charley Finley’s desire to move from KC. At first, the Coliseum only had to compete with Candlestick, but then came Pac Bell and Mt. Davis. Then, there was never any upkeep on the park so you take your life into your own hands using the restroom as you never know what will back out of the sewer system. Hopefully, they’ll get another stadium or they may just join the Raiders in Vegas!
My god, Oliver Drake played everywhere last season. That’s so bizarre.
What’s with the Rays and DFAing players who have career years?
Cron is easily replaceable. Guys with his skillset aren’t worth protecting on the 40-man roster. This move was about the rule 5 draft. You can pick .250 30 HR power off the scrap heap for cheaper than $5 million.
Really? If hitting 30 HR was so easy then why haven’t teams like the Giants had a 30 HR hitter since Bonds in 2006?
That’s an absolutely terrible response or lack of critical thinking. You’re acting as though all ballparks/divisions are the same along with offensive philosophy/collection of tools. Why haven’t I get had anyone since this live ball era? Well simple answer is the balk park, marine layer, lack of talent, and their old talent is older and experienced injuries/decline.
I live 20 minutes from the Trop, Love baseball, I get to 15-20 Spring Training games from Port Charlotte, Fort Myers, and all the way back to Tampa. I went to the Trop once, for an opening day VS Yankees. Never again. Loud, damp, cold, very few baseball fans, rude personnel. Even home games on TV are hard to watch. A new ballpark? They should end up in Montreal. I’m hoping the funding for the new park falls through.
They aren’t going anywhere. Funny that I’m an hour from the Trop and love baseball also and like you hate that field but make it to 10 or so….. but I want them here and you’d rather have them leave? Odd….just my opinion.
This is the kind of guy that fits in with Detroit and what they’re doing. They do need someone at 1b too as they have very little help there in house after Hicks and Cabrera needs to move to DH in order to lessen the physical strain of playing in the field he is by definition an inter league game 1b only these days. Tigers are really void of power after Castellanos and Cabrera. Candelario may develop that aspect but it hasn’t shown yet to be a dependable part of his game and Stewart has power but is still very young.
Why do the Rays even exist? I agree, move them to Montreal or anywhere else really.
Portland?
Nashville?
Vegas?
Montreal?
Orlando?
Bad decision to let 30hr walk away and still be under salary control. Let’s see what 2019 first baseman does in his place.
Please stop with the unwise suggestion to move Tampa to Montreal. Anyone pushing the idea of a failed city taking on a baseball franchise need a complete history lesson.
Montreal attendance broke 1-million once between 1998 and 2004, thanks to games played in Puerto Rico. Otherwise they wouldn’t have. Rays have never drawn below 1-million in their 21 year history. Montreal also consistently drew below league average every season beginning in 1983. Olympic Stadium wasn’t even 10 years old by that point.
Montreal cannot afford a baseball stadium and will struggle to find a spot to put it. There’s an idea in=place which will be very difficult to achieve.
Montreal will only draw when Toronto, Boston or New York show up. They might draw in year 1. Year 2, the nostalgia will fade and people will stop caring about attending games in Montreal like they did in the 90’s and 2000’s.
Plenty of American cities more deserving of an MLB franchise than Montreal. Montreal is a bad idea born from people purposely trying to ignore the past.
Nashville! I can’t believe we’re getting MLS before MLB.
Chris Davis would kill for his numbers.
Why? He’s got his money and will be getting a lot more of it.
Dbacks could be a good fit if they trade Goldie.
The Rays way. Hit 30 bombs and it’s see ya later. We’re going speed and defense they say. Messing with the balance. RH power hard to find.
Cruz? Donaldson? Gattis? Goldy?
Yes Cron hit 30 homers. That is the only thing he did good, this past season. Every other stat, even in a career year, was average or below average. So please keep focusing on 30 homers lol
Amen
he should go play in Japan, guys like him seem to rake over there.
Mariners should take on CJ Cron rather than Wil Myers. Younger, cheaper, and produces about the same.
Some of these comments are hilarious so clueless It’s embarrassing.
1. C.J. Cron is a 1 dimensional player who basically offers power and that’s it. Below average OBP, below average Defense and below average contact hitter.
2. Those players are about as valuable as a 30 year old RB at this point.
3. Rays are looking to improve as the GM said why would they commit 5 mill to a player when they’re much better RHb’s available? This is common sense.
4. People have a go at the Rays even tho they just made a move that means they are trying to improve and spend money for the first time in a while.
5. Cron isn’t a number 1 option for any team or even number 2. Unless that team isn’t looking for a every day hitter or they don’t have much money to spend.
6. It’s already been made clear the Rays plan was to upgrade on Cron all off season, they’ve tried to trade him for the last 5 months but no one wanted him.