D-Rays wave Fred McGriff 7 homers shy of 500.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Fred McGriff was cut Saturday by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, seven home runs short of 500.

McGriff, 40, struggled after the Devil Rays brought him up from Triple-A Durham on May 28, hitting just .181 with two homers and seven RBIs in 27 games. He hasn't homered since June 17 against Adam Eaton at San Diego.

Tampa Bay designated him for assignment, meaning the Devil Rays have 10 days to trade him, send him outright to the minors or place him on waivers.



``If a major league club has interest in Fred, we'll let him go,'' Tampa Bay general manager Chuck LaMar said.

McGriff is tied with Lou Gehrig for 21st place on the career home run list. He was trying to join Ted Williams, Willie McCovey and Eddie Murray as the only players to reach 500 homers after turning 40.

``It's not an easy situation,'' manager Lou Piniella said. ``Hopefully, somebody will pick him up and give him a further opportunity. I was hoping things would be different. But the organization wanted to get younger, and that's really what we're doing.''

The Devil Rays called up outfielder Joey Gathright and infielder Jorge Cantu from Durham. Utilityman Damian Rolls was optioned to Durham.

``I'm sentimental when it comes to Fred, but there comes a time I have to make a decision to put our best team on the field,'' LaMar said.

A Tampa native, McGriff played for the Devil Rays from their inception in 1998 until a 2001 trade to the Chicago Cubs.

McGriff has 2,490 hits and 958 extra-base hits, 30th on the career list. He has homered in a major league-record 43 ballparks.

Asked if falling short of 500 home runs would keep McGriff out of the Hall of Fame, Piniella said it shouldn't.

``I don't see where seven home runs make a difference,'' Piniella said. ``He's had a marvelous career.''

I admire the GM for doing the right thing for the organization. Tough to do but his bat speed is ridiculously slow these days.

Whether or not McGriff is a HOF'er.... the extra 7 'oh by the way homers' shouldn't matter...

Off topic kind of but. . Journey I watched EL DUQUE picth last night and he does not do his crazy herky jerk wind up anymore. Man, I was really disapointed to see that. we were talking about this not too long ago.. . Tony Batista must of drove you baltimore guys nuts with that awful batting stance of his.

It started to fall apart for McGriff when he got shipped to the cubs. He would have been better off if he never had to leave Tampa.

Yeah that seemed to be the case Rob....He seemed to unravel in the N.L.....at that age, the game can be gone overnight...

....I was going to start a thread about El Duque....
I remember when we were talking, to me Hernandez with that herky jerky windup , socks high and hat pulled way down, he just looks like a baseball player from the 60's -70's...I hope he can keep it going...