Cecilio Guante

Infobox MLB retired
bgcolor1=#EAC117
bgcolor2=black
textcolor1=black
textcolor2=white
name=Cecilio Guante
position=Pitcher
bats=Right
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date and age|1960|2|1
debutdate=May 1
debutyear=1982
debutteam=Pittsburgh Pirates
finaldate=July 29
finalyear=1990
finalteam=Cleveland Indians
stat1label=Record
stat1value=29-34
stat2label=ERA
stat2value=3.48
stat3label=Strikeouts
stat3value=503
teams=
*Pittsburgh Pirates (by|1982-by|1986)
*New York Yankees (by|1987-by|1988)
*Texas Rangers (by|1988-by|1989)
*Cleveland Indians (by|1990)
highlights=

Cecilio Guante (born February 1, 1960) was a professional Major League Baseball player who played from 1982 to 1990. He made his MLB debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates and ended his career after playing with the Cleveland Indians. He finished his career with a 29-34 won/loss record and a 3.48 ERA. He worked exclusively as a relief pitcher (save for one start in 1990).

Personal information

Guante was born in Villa Mella, Dominican Republic. His height is 6'3" and his playing weight was 205 lb. He was a right-handed pitcher and also a right-handed batter.

Baseball career

Guante was signed as as an amateur free agent by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1979. He was eventually called up to the big leagues in 1982. He played five seasons for the Pirates, working exclusively as a relief pitcher. His strongest season was in 1985, when Guante posted a 4-6 record in 63 games. He pitched 109.0 innings, had 92 strikeouts, a 2.72 ERA and a 1.138 WHIP.

In 1987, Guante was traded to the New York Yankees, a team looking for pitching help. He was traded with Pat Clements and Rick Rhoden to the Yankees for Doug Drabek, Brian Fisher, and Logan Easley. This trade of prospects for older veterans came back to haunt the Yankees, as the young Drabek went on to win the National League Cy Young Award in 1990 and had a solid major league career until he retired in 1998.

To make matters worse for the Yankees, Guante had a 5.73 ERA in 1987. By comparison, the average ERA for an American League pitcher in 1987 was 4.38. Though Guante had a statistically strong year in 1988 (5 wins and a 2.82 ERA), he was traded to the Texas Rangers for Dale Mohorcic before the season was over. Guante played two more full seasons before leaving MLB for good.

Guante briefly played for CPBL's Uni-President Lions in 1992 after leaving major league.

Miscellaneous

Guante has become a reminder of the poor state of the New York pitching staffs of the 1980s, as well as an example of the short-sighted trades that the team made in trading younger players for older players on the downside of their career.

Guante had an interesting nickname as a player: Magallane

Guante wore a giant G for Guante on his glove, as can be seen at http://88topps.blogspot.com/2008/01/84-cecilio-guante.html

External links

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