BASEBALL NOTES

updated 1:58 p.m. ET July 18, 2004

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.”

Halladay will make next start
Toronto right-hander Roy Halladay will make his scheduled start on Wednesday in New York against the Yankees despite concerns about his sore shoulder.

Halladay, the reigning AL Cy Young winner, allowed six runs and seven hits over four innings in Friday night’s 11-2 loss at Texas, his shortest outing of the season.

Halladay was on the DL because of soreness in his right shoulder and has made seven starts since he was activated on June 12, going 2-3 with a 5.85 ERA. He walked 13 during that span.

“We’ll see how he does over the next couple of days and go from there,” Blue Jays manager Carlos Tosca said before Saturday night’s game against Texas. “He’s still scheduled to make his next start.”

Halladay, 7-7 this season after going 22-7 in 2003, said after Friday night’s game that he has a tired arm, but didn’t think there was anything seriously wrong. Halladay will have his regular bullpen session on Sunday, but Tosca remains concerned.

“The ball isn’t coming out of his hand the way it used to,” Tosca said. “His curveball isn’t sharp. The location and movement aren’t there. It’s a get-it-over curve instead of a power pitch for him.”

MORE FROM MORE NEWS AND OTHER FEATURES

Over-inflated free-agent market frustrates GMs

Over-inflated free-agent market frustrates GMs Fox, TBS contracts OK'd through 2010 Celizic: Baseball isn’t broken, so don’t fix it Opinion: Mets will be team to beat in 2007 Special feature: Baseball's leading men Special report: Best power pitchers ever Interactive game: You be the pitcher!   Add More news and other features headlines to your news reader: