The Padres have officially signed Jorge Cantu to a one-year deal worth $850K, the team announced. We had previously heard that San Diego preferred to sign him to a minor league pact. Cantu is represented by the Wasserman Media Group.
Cantu, 29 later this week, hit just .256/.304/.392 in 515 plate appearances for the Marlins and Rangers last season, though he performed at a much more respectable .283/.336/.462 clip from 2008-2009. Capable of playing the corner infield spots and filling in at second in an emergency, he offers some versatility and could platoon with the left-swinging Brad Hawpe at first.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports originally reported the agreement (Twitter links), while Marty Caswell of XX 1090 in San Diego added the terms (Twitter link).
I like this signing for the Pads.
Good signing by Jed! Gives the Padres some flexibility at 1B as they can platoon Cantu with the LH hitting Hawpe. Although Cantu is better defensively at 1B, he could still spell Headley at 3B if needed. Best part of signing Cantu is that they don’t have to rush newly acquired 1B Rizzo up to the show.
I like Jed’s approach…
….Trade Adrian….
…replace everyone else with players that have proven track records, with Maybin thrown in learning the ML game from coaching staff, and established pros like ODog, Bartlett, Hawpe and the rest of the new guys.
The Padres not only replaced Adrian’s offensive value, they also increased it by spreading it throughout the batting order and onto the bench.
No longer will SD have to wait around for 2-3 innings until Adrian gets to the plate , to have a chance to score.
If this were 2008-2009 that might be true, but Cantu, Hawpe, and Bartlett had pitiful 2010 seasons. You’ve still got plenty of question marks in there. Even in Hudson, most of his value in 2010 (a good season) was derived from his glove. His bat was pretty marginal.
Spreading mediocre veterans that were once offensive weapons throughout the lineup guarantees nothing. The Padres have far from replaced Gonzo’s offensive value.
Hawpe and Bartlett are still young and played well below their abilities last season. Along with Harang (who had solid peripherals despite injuries) and Ludwick, who had a BABIP last season with the pads that was well below his normal average, and you’ve got a long list of good bounceback candidates. Will they all work out? probably not, but Jed is really hedging his bets. If even half of the new acquisitions perform well and even half of the young players contribute the padres are going to be in good shape.
Cantu has been written off before.. remember well seeing Jorge look like an absolute MONSTER with Tampa bay back in ’05, then he sort of lost in partially during the ’06 season and finally.. The Fish gave him a chance in ’08 and he was that same MONSTER again during ’08 and ’09. He had the power and drove in runs. remember well since watch most every Fish game and was a clutch contributor on both teams, also handy at both 1B and 3B for a team needing to keep that seat “warm” for Anthony Rizzo for a year or 2.
Just give Jorge a chance.. He ain’t costing much.. You just may be surprised at what he brings..
Fantastic signing by Jed! Nice to have a solid, proven bat to provide some flexibility. We needed this!
Somebody just built a serious fire under Headley’s -ss.
Good work, Jed.
Headley needs to be pushed
Under Headley and Hawpe. I bet Cantu gets 400 ABs this year.
I have been hoping all winter they would land Georgie.
i actually sent the Pad’s an e-mail about 3 years ago suggesting they get Cantu. The response I rec’d was that he was not available. (I believe he was still with Tampa Bay at the time.)
do you think headley will be replaced??? i hope so
lolwut
The Padres just got a little bit better.
Padres are making all the right moves this offseason. Nothing major (in additions), but sound low-risk moves on guys with solid track records. They have significantly improved their 2011 MLB version while at the same time restocking their farm with blue-chip talent. Unreal. Hoyer is off to a good start I’d say.
Question: Do they make the playoffs?
Answer: no
Depends on if Stauffer and Latos continue to progress..
Well there is more then that. But that about sums it up. Latos has to show last year was merely the start of a career. Stauffer/Richard/Harang have log solid innings. The Pen has to be again above average, thou to expect them to repeat last year is insane. And the lineup has to be a team, meaning they understand and buy into everyone doing their part and playing small ball.
And with all of that, it will heavily depend on what the rest of the NL west does this coming season. Will the Rockies stay healthy and or hit on the road. Will the dodger deep rotation cover them, will the Giants pitch as well as last year and get timely hitting. The Padres are going to compete in the division I feel, but its going to be anyones guess as to how all of the questions get answered. I wouldn’t count of the wild card coming from the west this year. .
I’m kind of confused about Stauffer. Is he a legit starter? Because I thought he pitched in long relief for most of the year, and he was close to being let go at the end of Spring Training
Then he had a 0.00 era for half the year and had about 5 quality starts in six outings (including two 6-7 inning shutouts). You could have made an argument that he was the Padres second best starter down the stretch; also Luebke.
depends on whether the giants get lucky on any more 83 year olds
Yeah, that 21 year old Madison Bumgarner, 23 year old Buster Posey, 30 year old Cody Ross and 32 year old Andres Torres that took over are ANCIENT!!!
32 is the new 65.
don’t worry, bochy will find ways to give their playing time to the mark bellhorns of the world.
Bellhorn really should have won the WS MVP in 04.
If you’re counting on another year like that from Torres, I’ve got some land to sell you
i’ll buy. he completely changed his swing and approach from previous years. he is legit.
i’m not a giants fan btw
As a marlins fan I can tell Padres fans that you will be pleased with Cantu the hitter. His defense is a little suspect at third, but shouldn’t be a problem in a limited role.
Good Pick up for the Padres, He was a solid bat for the Marlins and he’ll bring that same solid bat for San Diego.
The Corners are covered…Yet …It’s all about pitching…If the BP and the Young arms show up …..it’s gonna be some fine baseball in San Diego again ( We have been winning for 1 1/2 years now )….7/29/09 Baby Pads were born…..Go Low Payroll Pads…We beat you for less+++
Jed Hoyer once again! Very solid.
Anyone else think the NL West is gonna be a riot to watch this year….another move to make the pads a more respectable team.
I think the NL west will be extremeley competetive this year. All teams could easily finish with 80 wins or more, even the Dbacks now that they have a respectable bullpen.
NL West will be as competitive as the AL East, with 25% of the salaries
NL West teams will split season series against each other
How they do during interleague and against the rest of the NL will be the difference maker.
“NL West will be as competitive as the AL East, with 25% of the salaries”
There should be a love button haha.
I honestly dont think anyone will win 90 games in the NL West just because it will be so competitive and if they do its b/c a team or 2 in the West will not live up to the hype but if everyone lives up to the expectations I see a 4 team race.
where does this leave Salazar?? Cantu has potential to bounce back, but as of right now he is oscar salazar with a glove (even if it stinks)… i don’t see the sense in having 2 right handed backup corner infielders.
the corner depth right now looks like chase, cantu, frandsen at 3B, and hawpe/cantu at 1B with Blanks due back in a few months. that would of course move hawpe to a more Matt Stairs-y role if Blanks works out, and Cantu to be 2010 Salazar 2 months into the year. I like the depth, but I don’t see Oscar keeping a job.
Oscar is still on the 40 man roster.
Frandsen isn’t yet, nor is it a gimme he breaks camp with the big club on the 25 man.
Eric Patterson is on the 40 man.
He plays 2B and CF.
It will be interesting to see which one the Padres take on the 25 man roster.
Someone would have to be dropped from the 40 man and put on waivers for Frandsen to make the big club.
The Padres will keep Frandsen at AAA and let Patterson start the season,
and see how it goees from there
Right now, Frandsen is the most reliable back up at SS.
yeah there’s no way they break camp without a backup SS. patterson has a little bit of experience at 2b, as does salazar, but neither are true middle infielder types. You def want a good fresh body to swap in and out with hudson and bartlett up the middle, who are solid but not 160-gamers.
Who cares about Salazar?
It’s amazing to live with the dumpster diving Kevin Towers all these years and watch the pen over achieve and everyone else finish there careers in the Petco popper scooper. Now it seems that we have a GM that gets it right, pays the players he needs, low balls the maybe’s, and let’s the old men walk with their dogs to someone else’s yard. Kudos to you Jed, and hopefully the boys in the uniforms work as hard as you and your staff have for San Diego.
P.S. Good luck with the trash pickups in Arizona with KT
KT deserves a lot of credit for what he did in SD with limited resources.
i don’t know man…. he did forget that we are an NL team once and accidentally gave cliff floyd a contract.
I agree, a lot more credit. 90% of the 2010 Padres was his team after all.
I bet the Padres will finish in last place, no gonzalez = trash
I bet the Diamondbacks will finish in last place – subtraction of LaRoche and Reynolds and addition of Heilman and Bloomquist = trash
Good sign but Cantu needs to adjust his stroke and forget about the deep ball. I expect his flyouts to increase. If he’s lucky somebody will be standing on 3rd.
Why is Cantu’s value so low? he’s been a stud the last 3 years and started out ON FIRE last year before trailing off greatly. he’s a solid player. i can’t, for the life of me, figure out why he’s only worth $850k
Because he was so bad for the Rangers last year. I think he went 100 ab’s without an RBI, after starting the season with at lease 1 rbi in the first dozen or so games…
This is a real nice depth move by the Padres. He can play 2 positions adequately and possibly another. He’ll serve as a real nice backup at 1B and 3B depending on matchups plus a great bench bat late in the games. It also allows Hawpe to possibly play the OF if Ludwick or Veneble goes down.
I just hope he is better than what I saw while he was in Texas, he had no pop at all…
Now there is literally just scrubs left in FA, I wonder what Jermaine Dye is up to
He can also play 2B. Sign Orlando Cabrera. Blanks would be the future 1B know that Gonzalez is gone and the Clark and then Rizzo.
850k? The cheap-ass Astros couldn’t shell that out. What happens if / when Chris Johnson falters. I spend more than 850k on toilet paper.
What toilet paper are you buying? Gold?
I have a sensitive behind. Only gold laced paper pour moi.
Too bad the Braves passed on him…still need infield versatility and backup, a guy with some pop in his bat…sure, it doesn’t address a hole in the outfield (even if Jordan and/or McOut do better, they will need another bat in the outfield) but for 850K? I think the Braves probably thought they would have to pay him 2 Million plus to sign him…surprise!!! asleep at the wheel..they will end up signing some scrub with a lot less pop for about the same money or more. Great job!!
Don’t expect much at all from Jorge. He’s a great guy and a hard worker but he’s simply not a solid hitter. He’s probably a little bit above average when he’s on, and below average otherwise. Don’t expect him to hit the ball hard either. I don’t think he’ll fare well in Petco but who knows.
And I sincerely hope they don’t intend to play him at 3rd base very often at all; he was as bad as you could imagine from his range to his throwing arm.
His middle name should be canot
All I know is that I like Jed Hoyer 1000% more than I did Kevin Towers. If I were the padres, I would sign Hoyer to a 10 year deal. Lock this kid up! He’s a keeper!
After a torrid off-season such as this, I think I want a Hoyer jersey.