i just remember the numerous amount of times he gunned out a runner at second. Too bad thats all I remember him for, I would have loved to see him swinging a good stick. Oh well, he will be more happy in the place he grew up.

His arm was joyous to watch, and when he got hot for a week or two early in the season (he lead the team in RBI for a short time and got his average up around .300) the excitement about his potential rose around the Box and, for me at least, it rose to an almost fever pitch. I hope he keeps up his defensive reputation and in one crazy contract year hits 20 homers and gets an Ausmus/Matheny contract. He's a likable man and should be a back-up in the majors for another decade or so.

On 15 April, Cash-Is-Money hit his first HR of the season and drove in 3 runs against Detroit in an 11-0 Jays win.

At that moment, after 9 games played, Cash was hitting .367 (11-30), with a .633 slugging percentage. His OPS was 1.057

It seems clear in retrospect that you have to enjoy these moments when they come along.

I've always thought Cash had a chance to be Mike Matheny, but the clock is working against him. When Matheny was Cash's age, he had already had three ML seasons playing 100+ games, and had actually hit as high as .247...

I wonder how unusual it is for a catcher to have more runners caught stealing (15) than extra base hits (13). Intuituitively, it seems like it shouldn't happen but it probably does all the time...

Kevin was great to talk to and nobody worked harder. Many times, I saw him on the field in full gear an hour before batting practice while coach Breeden hit literally hundreds of hard shots at him with a fungo from both sides of the infield, to simulate relay throws. Over and over, Cash would catch (or block) those vicious one- and two-hoppers and lunge for the imaginary tag.

I've been saying all along that he belongs in the NL, where his arm and those incredibly quick feet will compensate for his bat. He'll never hit for average at this level, but he does have a bit of pop. Maybe he's one of those guys who should try to pull everything, in case he makes contact.

All the best, KC.

Igniting the rally at Fenway to launch the Jays to their first win of the year. I believe he had three doubles that day.

If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. With that said I am speechless when it comes to Kevin Cash.

Final weekend of the 2003 series. Many bauxites in attendance with Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus. Halladay pitching to sew up the wild card against Cleveland. The play I remember was a wild pitch/passed ball with a runner on third. It seems like 98 per cent of the time that the runner scores, and the other 2 per cent of the time the catcher throws the ball past the pitcher covering the plate and even more fun ensues. Cash hustled after the ball, playing the carom off the backstop like Yaz used to play the Green Monster, Halladay covered the plate properly and they nailed the guy trying to score from third. I don't recall ever seeing a catcher move like that.

Like a few others here, I still have hopes for his bat, too. Would like to see him get 250 AB some year to see what he could do. Otherwise, he's comfortably destined for the Backup Catcher Lifetime Enrolment Plan. There's worse things.

Of course I meant to say "Cy Young" that Halladay was trying to sew up. No idea why my hands typed "wild card". Gnawing them off now...

Coach -- maybe he should have spent more time in the cage, instead of hours with Breeden -- granted, I'm sure it helped his defensive skills, but clearly he had some of those skills from the get-go -- a strong, accurate throwing arm like the one he has is not something that you can just attain through hard work -- I wish him well, too bad it wasn't here --

I remember him being one of the few people that actually hit the ball early in the season. I remember thinking how ironic it was that Cash, who had been weak at the plate in 2003 was looking fairly reliable in april when most of the stars weren't. It's too bad he wasn't able to keep it up.

And of course, he's got a stunning arm too...

I'm pretty high on Gaudin so I like the deal. With that said however, I think the Jays gave up on him way to quickly. If the team loses Zaun and Greg Myers doesn't get back to form then it will all be left GQ's young shoulders.

I think the Jays are taking a huge gamble on a very cheap catching option.

Best of luck Cashie. I think you'll love Lou and he'll love ya back.

http://www.battersbox.ca/archives/00001620.shtml
My memory: it's May, and the Jays have had a terrible start. I go to the Blue Jays poll, where you can vote for the Jays MVP for the month of April. One of the options is Kevin Cash, which pretty much
told you how the season had went.

maybe he should have spent more time in the cage, instead of hours with Breeden

I remember reading an article (COMN) where Cash talked about his hard work during the off-season, including how he worked everyday hitting off a curveball machine. Cash's results probably wasn't for lack of effort, or because of a focus on fielding.

My favorite Cash memory is the story from the Cape League. Cash was a 3b who was filling in behind the plate. As soon as a scout saw him throw to second the scout asked that they get him back out from behind the plate before another scout witnessed what he had seen.

Doom Service: I was at that game too. Didn't Cash hit his first major league HR that day? Great game. The most fun I've ever had at the ballpark.

When I think of Kevin Cash I remember the time he.... or when the team needed a big hit and he came.... didn't he throw out a lot of runners?

Needless to say I won't miss him.

Cash will be in my memory for a long time from my trip to Fenway Park last May. We showed up early and were watching the Jays take BP. Cash was standing around waiting for his turn and I yelled out "Hey Kevin!". He looks up and peers at the stands, and I wave and yell "Kevin!"... at this point I think his thought process is along the lines of, "I don't know this person... what psycho knows my name, in Boston?". He gives me a nervous smile and a half-wave, then turns back to the batting cage.

All the best to Kevin in Tampa. I hope the change of secenery treats him well and the trade turns out to be a win-win.

Didn't Cash hit his first major league HR that day? Great game. The most fun I've ever had at the ballpark.

Yes, he did. It actually turned out to be the winning run to help Halladay get his 22nd victory. That was a hell of a game and a hell of a week-end to end off 2003.

My other Kevin Cash memory was another HR he hit against the A's Mark Mulder in September. If I recall correctly, Mulder struck out Cash a couple of times and made him look sick at the plate. I was happy Cash was able to exactly some revenge on Mulder the next time up. Unfortunately, the Jays would come up with a come from ahead loss that Saturday afternoon.

Saw his almost first homerun. Bases loaded. Deep flyball 4 feet to the left of the left field foul pole on the 500 level. Maybe if he had swung a little later, we wouldn't have lost the game 22-5.

I little while later saw his first homerun.

Funny how hopes can change in a years span.

Hey, VBF, I almost caught that ball! Landed like five seats to my right. Yeah, I had lousy seats that day.

Cash's red-hot start to the year was great. Let's hope he finds that again.

In 2003, when all the Toronto big prospects were here in New Haven, about half way through the season, the Jays promoted Simon Pond, Gabe Gross, Jorge Sequea and Kevin Frederick to Syracuse. I drove from CT to Scranton in August that year to see the guys that were promoted (Syracuse was playing in Scranton) and they were surprised and happy to see us. As a photographer, I try to make extra copies of my best work and give them to the guys. Kevin Frederick was down in the bullpen, so I went down to see him after meeting up with the other guys by the dugout. I had some shots of him and called him over. He came over with this his catcher whom I didn't know and together they looked through the pictures. Kevin was very impressed and mentioned how he wished he had pictures from his past as he "climbed the latter" to the Major Leagues. It wasn't until later in the game that I realized that the catcher was top prospect Kevin Cash I was chatting with. I assumed it was the backup catcher down in the bullpen. But on that night, Kevin happened to be sitting out of the game and was down in the bullpen. A few weeks later he was called up to Toronto.

Let's hope he finds that again.

Can we hope that he waits until he leaves an up-and-coming divisional rival before he finds it? :)

And what's the word on him going to Arizona? All I've heard so far is that it was actually cash, and not Cash, going from Tampa to Arizona in the Angel Garcia trade.

I'll always remember Kevin Cash for costing me the HACKING MASS title. I was 3rd this year and had Cash as my catcher. If I would have had Ausmus I would have won easily. I was really hoping for a Zaun to Houston trade in July as that would have freed up the Jays to play Cash and Zaun could have blocked Ausmus. But such was not to be.