Was it a mistake to let Jorge Cantu go?

[redlegs2370]

I know it is only 2 weeks into the season, but seeing the Reds have decided against playing Votto on an everyday basis I have to wonder what a 1st base platoon with Votto and Cantu would have looked like. With the Reds sitting at 1-3 vs left handed pitching it sure would be nice to have a right handed bat that can feast on left handed pitching. I just find it hard to believe, seeing how the Reds have struggled against left handed pitching for the last few season, that management would go into the season with two left handed batters at 1st.

[redsupport]

of course not, castro and coffey are more valuable

[Jack Burton]

Yes

[Jones1]

Yes the guy is hitting pretty well for the marlins

[jnwohio]

Originally Posted by Jones1

Yes the guy is hitting pretty well for the marlins

It might not have been a mistake to let Cantu go because of his contract status (arb eligible). However, having not kept him, it was certainly a mistake not to have kept Andy Phillips, Jolbert Cabrera or Jerry Hairston on the 25 man roster. If Gonzo is back and hitting like he was for the most part last year, then Kepp becomes that spot. But it sounds like Gonzo could still be weeks away; and they knew this all along from when the injury was discovered.

The situation is further worsened by the fact Ross isn't around. But they really put themselves into this situation by keeping both Freel and Hopper plus both Votto and Hatteburg. They have to bite the bullet and use one of those one of those roster spots for a right handed guy with some pop who can play off the bench.

[Jr's Boy]

Another good Krivsky pickup for dirt cheap,hit well when he was here,but expendable.Go figure.

[durl]

Cantu would have been too expensive to keep. I believe the plan has been for Votto to be the 1B of this team over Cantu so there's no point in going to arbitration with him.

[Newman4]

Cantu had a good stretch with the Reds, but over his entire career doesn't show strong platoon stats. He's mediocre against LHP and RHP even with his career year thrown in there.

[tommycash]

How can we possibly keep Hatteburg and Votto, especially since we cannot hit lefties right now. How about putting Keppinger at 3rd for a while and have Votto and Eddie platoon at 1st base.

[redsfanmia]

Originally Posted by durl

Cantu would have been too expensive to keep. I believe the plan has been for Votto to be the 1B of this team over Cantu so there's no point in going to arbitration with him.

$600,000 is too expensive? Thats what he is getting with the Marlins.

[Jones1]

This is what needs to happen to improve this ball clubs hitting. Get Alex back release Castro. Have Kepp play SS when facing RHP's. Have Alex play SS when facing LHP's and Kepp play first. Then you hope Ed E & Dunn's production comes up along with a solid Ross. That helps our lineup if these things fall into place. Also I think with the emergence of Bako we trade or realease Valentine and bring up Hairston or Cabrera. One way or the other something needs to happen to spark this team. I think you either trade or keep Hatteberg only as a pinch hitter as well.

[UK Reds Fan]

Originally Posted by durl

Cantu would have been too expensive to keep. I believe the plan has been for Votto to be the 1B of this team over Cantu so there's no point in going to arbitration with him.

How is that possible he is too expensive, he makes less than a million for the Marlins? If we can't afford that money for a platoon player, but we had the cash for Patterson in CF and Affeldt in the pen. Also, you know we'll unload Hatterburg at some point this year.

This is close to the Brendan Harris issue, we waive a cheap utility guy to only pay Castro 1M to perform way less. We acquired a cheap RH infielder only to throw him out when he could have helped us out thus far.

[mlbfan30]

Originally Posted by Jones1

This is what needs to happen to improve this ball clubs hitting. Get Alex back release Castro. Have Kepp play SS when facing RHP's. Have Alex play SS when facing LHP's and Kepp play first. Then you hope Ed E & Dunn's production comes up along with a solid Ross. That helps our lineup if these things fall into place. Also I think with the emergence of Bako we trade or realease Valentine and bring up Hairston or Cabrera. One way or the other something needs to happen to spark this team.

Very close, but we release Valentine then bring up Ross. We can't have 1 catcher.

[mlbfan30]

Originally Posted by UK Reds Fan

How is that possible he is too expensive, he makes less than a million for the Marlins? If we can't afford that money for a platoon player, but we had the cash for Patterson in CF and Affeldt in the pen. Also, you know we'll unload Hatterburg at some point this year.

This is close to the Brendan Harris issue, we waive a cheap utility guy to only pay Castro 1M to perform way less. We acquired a cheap RH infielder only to throw him out when he could have helped us out thus far.

Cantu would have cost about 2M in arbitration, assuming we kept him for the Rule V draft. Castro is making 1M no matter what. So essentially it's 3M for Cantu, or 1M for Castro.

If your saying that Cantu should have replaced Hatty, then the Reds wouldn't have picked up a 1.5M option on a 1B that had a 120 OPS+. You can't non tender that type of deal, but then they should have traded him. He was kept as insurance for Votto because Dusty/Reds doesn't trust young kids. Votto has over 100pts in AVG over Hatty right now, and the Reds distrust in Votto is going to greatly decrease Hatty's trade value. I think its inexcusable as to how pooly the Votto/Hatty/Cantu thing was worked out. The Reds probably could have got something decent in return from Hatty, and had better production from Cantu for the same amount of money. Instead they are getting nothing all because they don't trust Votto.

[UK Reds Fan]

Thanks for the information on the arb eligible.

I guess I'm still scratching my head, Wayne K should have known this before acquiring him in the first place last year if money was going to be a factor. I don't think 2 Mil is a lot, but Cantu seemed to perform fine last year, I don't see anything that would lead me to believe we should have DFA'd him.

In the end the options are/were:
Cantu
Hatteburg
Castro
Freel
Keppinger

Looks like Cantu was the only one that we could cut w/o costing any money.