Who's the 3B in Florida?

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 6:51 pm

Does anyone know who is starting at 3B for the Marlins? I am in a VERY deep league and I need to get a 3B as it looks like the ChiSox are gonna send down Josh Fields. Is it Jose Castillo, Jorge Cantu or Dallas McPherson?

General Manager Joined: Jan 08, 2007 Posts: 336

I belive its Cantu

Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 7:16 pm

MLB.com and Yahoo say it is Castillo. RotoTimes and RotoWorld say it is Cantu. Can anyone verify?

Roto Guru Joined: Feb 02, 2005 Posts: 614

not sure who the 3b is there but Im in the same boat in a league, decided to take a chance on headley

General Manager Joined: Jan 23, 2005 Posts: 158

Looks like the giants picked up castillo, so looks like cantu will be the third baseman

Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 3:33 pm

Huskies34 wrote:

Looks like the giants picked up castillo, so looks like cantu will be the third baseman

I saw this. Is Cantu really gonna start? Will he really beat out McPherson?

Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 5:48 pm

According to the Miami Herald, MacPherson was written off a couple of weeks ago. Cantu has actually been hitting the ball well (yeah, I know it's only spring training) and MacPherson has done next to nothing. It was between Castillo and Cantu and I think Castillo's release is a huge vote of confidence for Cantu.

Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 3:09 pm

gmb0623 wrote:

According to the Miami Herald, MacPherson was written off a couple of weeks ago. Cantu has actually been hitting the ball well (yeah, I know it's only spring training) and MacPherson has done next to nothing.

Can Cantu play the hot corner? The Rays ran him out of town because of his defense (and his hitting dried up too).

Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 5:50 pm

Probably not well. I think he's going to get a chance to be adequate however, at least at the start of the year. He'll get some playing time agaist lefties at first as well since Jacobs doesn't hit them well.

General Manager Joined: Jan 16, 2006 Posts: 308

From MVN Seamless Baseball:

After waiving Jose Castillo last week and optioning Dallas McPherson to Triple-A today, the Marlins have decided which washed-up infielder will be starting at third base. Jorge Cantu�of Devil Ray fame�looks to be a lock for the hot corner job. His high point was in 2005, when as a 23-year-old second baseman he mashed to the tune of .286/.311/.497 with 28 HR and 117 RBI. Cantu came back to earth in 2006, though, and was given away to the Reds in 2007.

This spring, Cantu is hitting .396 with 2 HR and 12 RBI. Take those Grapefruit League stats for what they�re worth�but realize that he�ll get every chance to play for a pitiful Marlins team, and that he�s shown his potential once before. Cantu�s only 26.

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 6:10 am

cantu's pretty interesting. he had the huge year, which was a bit exaggerated because of the silly RBI total even though his OBP was actually awful. but then he was only 23 at the time. his subsequent tailspin was injury-related to some degree - he broke his foot the next year. i'm not sure that was all of it, but it happened.

then he wasn't starting for the rays last year and got almost no play. almost unnoticed, though, he did put up an .873 OPS as a part-time 1B after getting shipped to the reds in the middle of the year. then apparently he spent the offseason at some kind of underwater physical fitness outfit in texas, so there might be some contract-year type motivation in play.

so, the positives: established ability to have a big year at a young age; a visible explanation (foot injury, followed by inconsistent playing time) for the subsequent two-year impact crater; hot spring; age 26 season. negatives: history of bad plate discipline; the aforementioned two-year impact crater.

on balance i'd say he's a nice gamble in deep leagues if you have the space and the need for a CI. i've grabbed him in mine. best case, he hits for average and power as a 1B/3B. worst case, hot spring doesn't carry over, you cut him. that's a good play.