Jonny Gomes is on the team, Jorge Cantu is not.
That's how it went down early Saturday morning when the Devil Rays pared down their roster to 25.
Cantu, who was the team's top offensive player in 2005 when he had 28 home runs and 117 RBIs, did not like the news he had been optioned to Triple-A Durham, but showed class responding to questions after receiving it.
"What can I say, I'm not a Minor League player," Cantu said. "I think a change of scenery would be best."
With Cantu gone, B.J. Upton will start most games at second base; Ty Wigginton and Brendan Harris will also see time at the position.
After the club experimented with Upton at several positions this spring, the 22-year-old seems closer to finding a Major League position than ever before. Upton brings an unparalleled athleticism to the position, where the Rays hope he will blossom offensively and make the routine defensive plays.
Cantu elaborated by saying he asked the Rays to trade him.
"And it's just for the best," Cantu said. "I don't have anything to prove down there. I guess I have to go."
Rays manager Joe Maddon explained the decision.
"We just chose Jon's bat right now," Maddon said. "Jorge, we just felt like there was a lack of a position. Jon, we feel we can put him in the outfield now because he is functional. Jorge, we weren't going to play him at second base. We didn't see first base as a viable option right now. And we had other things we wanted to do with the DH role. On all three counts, it kind of knocked him out of there."
Cantu, who battled injuries throughout the 2006 season, finished with a disappointing .249 batting average, 14 home runs and 62 RBIs. On the final day of the season, he vowed to come to camp in the best shape of his career. He worked hard in the offseason and felt he had accomplished the task, which made Saturday's news even more disappointing.
"It was like I didn't do anything -- like I just sat on my butt and waited for spring to begin," Cantu said. "But it's OK, it's a business. ... They just decided it was best. And I guess they decided I didn't fit into their plans for this season. That's pretty much what it's all about. Whatever, I don't even have any words any more."
Cantu said he has not decided whether he will report to Durham if he's not traded. During the course of Cantu's conversation with Maddon, the manager told him to take some time to think about what he wanted to do.
"And that's what I'm going to do," said Cantu, who plans to go home to Mexico for such thoughts.
Maddon would like to see Cantu remain with the organization.
"Jorge is a wonderful young man, and we're hoping he goes to Triple-A and gets everything in order," Maddon said. "But primarily we took him off of second base and that really limited the options."
He may have "gotten in shape", but it's not like he corrected a lot. He still has big holes in his wing, crappy second base defense, didn't seem to bother learning 1st, strikes out all the damn time, and doesn't walk enough to justify it.
It's not that I don't like him - I do, and wish he was still here. But don't get uppity here Jorge. You have one good year, and even that was flawed. Mend the flaws first, then you'll be back. Oh, and learn first base. Had youd one so, you might not have just lost out to Carlos Pena.
