Canseco

I see that Jose Canseco signed with the Expos to a minor league contract not too long ago. I saw this guy play last year and he looked like he was in excellent shape and can hit the ball a mile. I wonder why everybody is always down on this guy? Is he a bad clubhouse guy? I know his knees are not what they used to be, but come on, why is he on a different club every year, not to mention the time he spend on the independent team last year in the minor's?

He can only do one thing - smack long balls. He can't play defense, run well or hit for avg so most teams don't want to tie up that much money and a roster spot on someone who can't contribute in more ways.

He has a bit of a reputation for being a negative influence and insists on more playing time than his diminshed skills allow. What he brings isn't worth the headaches.

Ok, if it was that simple I would buy that theory.


My reasoning is, why than was Gwynn around for so long? Ok, I know he is a Hall-of-Famer, but his last couple years he couldn't run or play defense or hit for power, but he could sure hit. He also retired on his own, not because there wasn't a need for him.


Also what about Big Mac, he retired on his own, he by all means wasn't forced out of the game. All's he could do was hit the long ball. He couldn't hit for average or run and played mediocre at best defense.


Give me time, I'm sure I can think of other Dave Kingman, Gorman Thomas type players who played well past their prime.


So it must be what you said, his negative influence in the clubhouse.

He is pure DH material and there are plenty of those out there. Stop crying for Jose, he always finds a team every year and gets paid a decent amount of money.

I'm not crying about Jose. I could really care less about the guy actually. I just find it odd he can hit the ball 500ft and nobody really wants or has a need for him.

when people mention that they don't want to spend the money on Canseco, its all crap. he doesn't make anything these days...its not like he's tied up in a $5 mil per year deal...he's probably getting less than 500,000. and it also makes zero sense that the Expos took him, because he can't play the field...so that means the max they can use him is to pinch hit and to DH in interleague games. a team like the A's could've used him (who's their DH this year?) as they could use a power righty. i've listened to his interviews and read quotes by him in the last two years, and he has really changed. the guy is now pretty humble, he knows his place, he knows he's not what he used to be. so from that perspective, i don't see him being a problem in the clubhouse.


in short, i think he still can be useful, but not to the Expos.

The A's have no use for him because the mighty DAVID JUSTICE and his $10 million pay are locked in. That is the one trade that still makes me scratch my head. Justice will get big money to be a mediocre DH when guys like Canseco would have been more popular and done just as much. As for Canseco hitting the ball 500 feet, does that really matter? If you hit it 402 feet and the fence is 400 then its just as good. The Expos signed him because he is trade bait. This is a move straight out of the Padres book, Kevin Towers always signs a couple of veterans that he plays and gets them to produce somewhat and then trades them for something young and of value around trading deadline. That is how lesser teams should build for the future. Last year he got Jay Witasick when no one wanted him and then traded him to the Yankees after a mildly productive first half of the season and probably laughed his head off when he couldn't get outs for the Bombers. He did the same with Carlos Baerga a few years back. Canseco will go back to the AL to a contender around July, you watch...

who did they give up to get Justice? Justice does not fit in with this team...I'd rather have Canseco at 250,000 / 500,000 than Justice at 10mil.


Projected stats : Canseco .240 / 35 HR Justice .270 / 25 HR - pretty much the same in my book for a big diff in salary.....of course, if they gave up another big salary guy to get Justice, then its a moot question...I just can't for the life of me remember who that guy they gave to the Mets was (I remember Justice to Mets for Ventura).

December 14, 2001 Acquired outfielder David Justice and cash from the New York Mets for pitcher Mark Guthrie and minor league pitcher Tyler Yates.

Hey look, we agree on something!

in that case, i'd much rather have Canseco at half a mil than Justice at 5mil or whatever the number is after the Mets paid cash.