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Carter Country

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jan 27 2010 09:01 AM

Let's hope Carter can push Muffy, and vice versa, maybe one of them am,ounts to something in this crazy world. I guess the interesting part here is that Chip Hale's a fan. Theo: No deal without prospect of draft picks » BY ADAM RUBIN Red Sox GM Theo Epstein confirmed to me yesterday what had been clear since he acquired Billy Wagner on Aug. 25 of last season: No way would Boston have taken on the ex-Met closer’s $3.2 million remaining salary with a buyout last year had two draft picks likely not been part of the package. Knowing that they would offer arbitration to Wagner, and suspecting he wouldn’t accept and be a set-up man, Boston received picks No. 20 and another between the first and second rounds in this June’s draft once Wagner signed with the Braves as a free agent. “The chance at receiving two compensation picks was a very attractive part of the deal for us,” Epstein said. “We would not have made the deal otherwise.” Because the Red Sox claimed Wagner off waivers from the Mets last August, Omar Minaya had the opportunity to pull back Wagner. But that would mean Wagner would not be able to be traded for the rest of the season and the Mets, looking to save money, would have had to eat those millions. (And pick up the draft picks, if they were willing to risk offering Wagner arbitration.) In the end, Boston didn’t want to take a chance that Wagner would be pulled back, so they offered a pair of minor leaguers that weren’t in their plans — which allowed the Mets to make it more resemble a trade than a straight salary dump. First baseman/outfielder Chris Carter, who made Boston’s Opening Day roster in ’09, was one player to be named. The other is 20-year-old first baseman Eddie Lora. Carter and Daniel Murphy are two of the three position players at this week’s minicamp. (The other is third baseman Shawn Bowman.) And it’s easy to draw comparisons between Carter and Murphy. Both have reputations for being driven workaholics who are very intense. And both players’ bats are ahead of their gloves. The difference: Carter, despite a career .302 minor-league average, has had only minimal opportunities in the majors. “He’s a major-league bat,” said new Mets third base coach Chip Hale, who managed Carter in Triple-A in the Diamondbacks organization, before Carter went to Boston in a three-team deal that involved Wily Mo Pena. “It’s always been our job as instructors to kind of create and get him good enough to play first base — or the outfield.” Because Carter bats lefty, like Murphy, his best chance to make the team may be as the fifth outfielder until Carlos Beltran returns. It helps that Jason Bay and Jeff Francoeur are righty. Of course, Gary Matthews Jr. and Angel Pagan will be in the outfield, too. Carter does have a minor-league option remaining, so there’s also a pretty good chance he’s with Triple-A Buffalo. There are several interesting storylines with the 27-year-old Carter: Knowing he didn’t want to be distracted by academics once he was drafted in the 17th round in 2004, and highly motivated to complete his degree, he graduated from challenging Stanford as a human biology major in three years. Well, essentially three years. He took one online psychology class after the draft to finish off his degree. He was teammates with Jed Lowrie as a Cardinal. Carter made his big-league debut on June 8, 2008 at Fenway Park. He didn’t have time to be nervous. Coco Crisp was hit with a pitch, a brawl ensued and Crisp was ejected. Carter entered as a pinch-runner, subsequently had two hits (and two standing ovations), and was optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket after the game. “I had the adrenaline going from when the brawl broke out,” Carter said. “I’ll never forget it. I got a standing ovation. It’s a feeling that’s been with me ever since. There was no nervousness until like the eighth inning. There was so much stuff going on. I didn’t have time to think, ‘Hey, this is my first game. This is my first at-bat.’” The Yankees did Carter no favors. Had Carter cleared waivers as a player to be named in late August, he would have joined the Mets for September and been up in the big leagues, getting regular exposure. Instead, the Yankees did some shenanigans. Knowing he was part of the deal, the Yankees claimed Carter. The Red Sox had to pull him back from waivers and keep him on the 40-man roster through the season. The deal only went through after the season, costing Carter a month in the majors and about $65,000 in salary. Carter sat for a week in late August at Pawtucket while in limbo, before asking to re-enter the PawSox’s lineup—knowing he couldn’t get to the Mets by the season’s end thanks the Yankees’ maneuver. In his final two Triple-A games with Boston, he went 7-for-8. Despite his minor-league accomplishments, Carter has only 23 major-league at-bats on his résumé. Carter already has appeared at Citi Field, though. You may have remembered him doubling off the center-field wall in the first professional game at the stadium, during the Red Sox-Mets exhibition. Carter did make the Sox’s Opening Day roster last year and was up briefly. He beat out Brad Wilkerson and Jeff Bailey for the final roster spot.

Benjamin Grimm Jan 27 2010 09:07 AM Re: Carter Country

I wonder why the Yankees made that move to delay Carter's arrival with the Mets. Just to annoy the Mets and Red Sox? If so, that's rather petty. I can see them trying to block Wagner's arrival in Boston since they're a division rival and a possible ALCS rival, but why the claim on Carter?

metirish Jan 27 2010 09:27 AM Re: Carter Country

Well they're wankers aren't they? Carter and Murphy in 2010....

MFS62 Jan 27 2010 09:31 AM Re: Carter Country

[quote="Benjamin Grimm":3hn69pco]I wonder why the Yankees made that move to delay Carter's arrival with the Mets. Just to annoy the Mets and Red Sox? If so, that's rather petty. I can see them trying to block Wagner's arrival in Boston since they're a division rival and a possible ALCS rival, but why the claim on Carter?[/quote:3hn69pco] That's a head scratcher. IIRC Wagner was already there, so the move didn't block that. Other than taking a swipe at the Mets, the only thing I can think of would have been that Carter was that the move froze him on the Red Sox roster. So they would have had to drop someone else to bring up someone who could help them down the stretch. In doing so, they would have had to drop another player from the 40 man and possibly expose that player to the Rule V draft. Later

Ceetar Jan 27 2010 09:32 AM Re: Carter Country

The Yankees made the claim because it required the Red Sox to keep Carter on the 40 man roster. It was solely to eat up a spot so they couldn't bring up someone else. What I've always wanted to know is..who's at fault? Who leaked Carter's name (and it was leaked before the Yankees made the claim) the Mets or the Sox or some stupid reporter? The Yankees never would've put in that claim had they not known about the trade.

G-Fafif Jan 27 2010 10:28 AM Re: Carter Country

[quote="Ceetar":3kfvd0a2]The Yankees made the claim because it required the Red Sox to keep Carter on the 40 man roster. It was solely to eat up a spot so they couldn't bring up someone else. What I've always wanted to know is..who's at fault? Who leaked Carter's name (and it was leaked before the Yankees made the claim) the Mets or the Sox or some stupid reporter? The Yankees never would've put in that claim had they not known about the trade.[/quote:3kfvd0a2] Stupid reporters...doing their jobs.

Gwreck Jan 27 2010 12:25 PM Re: Carter Country

[quote="Ceetar":33j10b8w]Who leaked Carter's name (and it was leaked before the Yankees made the claim) the Mets or the Sox or some stupid reporter?[/quote:33j10b8w] A reporter (even a "stupid" one) is not the "leak;" they are -- by definition -- the person reporting the "leaked" information.

Nymr83 Jan 27 2010 12:28 PM Re: Carter Country

Clearly it was Omar who leaked the info to his butt-buddy Francessa who then reported back to his Yankee masters.

Ceetar Jan 27 2010 12:36 PM Re: Carter Country

[quote="G-Fafif":1jt6b8ql][quote="Ceetar":1jt6b8ql]The Yankees made the claim because it required the Red Sox to keep Carter on the 40 man roster. It was solely to eat up a spot so they couldn't bring up someone else. What I've always wanted to know is..who's at fault? Who leaked Carter's name (and it was leaked before the Yankees made the claim) the Mets or the Sox or some stupid reporter? The Yankees never would've put in that claim had they not known about the trade.[/quote:1jt6b8ql] Stupid reporters...doing their jobs.[/quote:1jt6b8ql] Maybe I'm a bit harsh, but I don't have a lot of trust or respect for most reporters. They seem like sleezeballs whose number 1 priority is neither informing fans or presenting information but selling their 'product'. Reporters are not a part of the club (despite what Adam Rubin wishes when he's alone with his thoughts) and if one actually caused the club 'harm' by keeping a player from the Mets due to releasing this information, then he shouldn't have. It's hardly as serious, but sometimes information isn't ready to be released. How many times does information get released nowadays before details are finalized or deals are even complete? It's possible in this case it was just a reporter being shrewd, hearing about the Wagner deal and postulating enough based on who the Sox put on waivers and the Yankees decided to act on that information feeling it was good enough to stake a claim, but I still don't like it.

Gwreck Jan 27 2010 04:30 PM Re: Carter Country

Reporters are not a part of the club (despite what Adam Rubin wishes when he's alone with his thoughts) and if one actually caused the club 'harm' by keeping a player from the Mets due to releasing this information, then he shouldn't have. Wait, what? Either a reporter is part of the club or he isn't. If he isn't part of the club, he owes them no special obligation.

Ceetar Jan 27 2010 05:14 PM Re: Carter Country

[quote="Gwreck"] Reporters are not a part of the club (despite what Adam Rubin wishes when he's alone with his thoughts) and if one actually caused the club 'harm' by keeping a player from the Mets due to releasing this information, then he shouldn't have. Wait, what? Either a reporter is part of the club or he isn't. If he isn't part of the club, he owes them no special obligation.

They're still intertwined. Yes, he owes them nothing, but a reporter or anyone else should not interfere with the operations of a club. And, if I were the Mets and I could pin this on one particularly person they'd either be fired, or if they were media, kept at a distance from the team whereever possible.

MFS62 Jan 27 2010 05:15 PM Re: Carter Country

It didn't have to be a "leak" at all. IIRC the trade was announced as Wagner for two PTBNL. That usually means the players have to pass through waivers before they can be moved. (It can also mean the player is on the DL and can't be moved util after he is off it.) All the teams (and reporters) had to do was watch the waiver wire to see who Boston was putting on it, and draw their own conclusions. Once they saw the name(s) it was up to the them what they wanted to do with that information. Later

Ceetar Jan 27 2010 05:17 PM Re: Carter Country

[quote="MFS62":3guk5my8]It didn't have to be a "leak" at all. IIRC the trade was announced as Wagner for two PTBNL. That usually means the players have to pass through waivers before they can be moved. (It can also mean the player is on the DL and can't be moved util after he is off it.) All the teams (and reporters) had to do was watch the waiver wire to see who Boston was putting on it, and draw their own conclusions. Once they saw the name(s) it was up to the them what they wanted to do with that information. Later[/quote:3guk5my8] Yes, that's definitely a possibility, and if that's the case, it's the Mets (or the Sox) who screwed up in announcing the trade before the players cleared waivers. It's not like Theo called Omar and they made the trade in 20 minutes..Theo should've had those guys already through waivers. Or the Mets shouldn't have agreed to a trade for two guys that hadn't cleared.

Frayed Knot Jan 27 2010 05:36 PM Re: Carter Country

[quote="MFS62":2m3aht9o]It didn't have to be a "leak" at all. IIRC the trade was announced as Wagner for two PTBNL. That usually means the players have to pass through waivers before they can be moved. (It can also mean the player is on the DL and can't be moved util after he is off it.) All the teams (and reporters) had to do was watch the waiver wire to see who Boston was putting on it, and draw their own conclusions. Once they saw the name(s) it was up to the them what they wanted to do with that information.[/quote:2m3aht9o] First of all, almost every player is put on waivers at that time of year so it would take more than a bit of guesswork to try and deduce who it was with any certainty. Secondly, reporters can't just gaze at the waiver wire like the stock crawl above Times Square. Who is put on the wire and who does or doesn't pass through is supposed to be an in-house thing only - so in cases where it does get out means that someone from within baseball leaked that info. Nothing unusual about that as that kind of stuff seeps out all the time, but this notion that a reporter who gets that info is then supposed to sit on it based on the idea that some team or teams might try to use it to their advantage is absurd, not to mention absurdly naive.

Nymr83 Jan 27 2010 06:50 PM Re: Carter Country

Getting a little out of hand here aren't we? i dont care what information reporters release about a baseball team and the teams should do a better job hiding their secrets if they care, this isnt a national security issue where the reporters should shut their mouths if they learn something they shouldnt.

Fman99 Jan 27 2010 07:00 PM Re: Carter Country

[quote="Benjamin Grimm":26yradmz]I wonder why the Yankees made that move to delay Carter's arrival with the Mets. Just to annoy the Mets and Red Sox? If so, that's rather petty. I can see them trying to block Wagner's arrival in Boston since they're a division rival and a possible ALCS rival, but why the claim on Carter?[/quote:26yradmz] Good, I was waiting to have a reason to hate those Yankee fucks.