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Chewing on Delgado

John Cougar Lunchbucket
May 16 2008 11:32 AM

I was trying to come up with scenarios where we trade him, you know, like, maybe back to Toronto, but it's hard to imagine doing that on the fly unless we had a Plan B ready to go.

Toronto could use CD as a DH, perhaps, but they won't just give us Overbay in return. Maybe we get a prospect or two, maybe a relief pitcher, but we don't fill the whole he creates in a trade immediately.

So instead of obscuring the whole magilla in trade-talk, instead I wondered what the plan might be if, say, Delgado got hurt. Badly. Like a 3-month kinda hurt.

I know we can throw Anderson out there for a game or a few innings each night, but he's not an everyday solution.

But how big a reach would it be to send Carp out there? He had a fine spring and is currently .328/.378/.534/.912 at AA Bingo. As long as we're swallowing hard and batting Delgado 7th, how over-his-head could Carp be? And if he's really the guy we'd wind up with in an injury scenario, then how afraid should we really be of exploring Delgado's trade possibilities?

Benjamin Grimm
May 16 2008 11:47 AM

I just checked, and was surprised to see that Tatis has only played five major league games at first base.

I would have pegged him as Delgado's long-term understudy.

And I suppose he still might be.

Who's playing first base every day in New Orleans right now?

AG/DC
May 16 2008 11:53 AM
Edited 1 time(s), most recently on May 16 2008 11:53 AM

Our AAA firstbaseman is Michel Abreu and he's not hitting right now, but almost all of our outfielders are.

I know this because I just happened to be checking up on newcomer Val Pascucci, who has played plenty of first and is tearing the cover off of it.

metirish
May 16 2008 11:53 AM

Michael Abreu I think , if Delgado got hurt I would think Carp would come up and share time with Anderson I suppose.

John Cougar Lunchbucket
May 16 2008 11:56 AM

Michel Abreu's played most of the time but his numbers suck: 257/303/354

Carp and Evans, both 22, are having excellent years at AA thru ~130 ABs each.

Both are 1B/OF/DH types -- Evans a righthanded batter and Carp a lefty batter, righty thrower.

I'm not trying to disparage Fernando Tatis, but is really the everyday 1Bman for a contender?

Benjamin Grimm
May 16 2008 12:03 PM

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote:
I'm not trying to disparage Fernando Tatis, but is really the everyday 1Bman for a contender?


Not unless we could dial him back to 1999.

The thing is, the Mets really don't have the depth at first base to just jettison Delgado. And if he's hurt, they're going to have a tough time replacing his production, even at its reduced 2008 level.

Maybe you could catch lightning in a bottle with Pascucci, but my guess is that the more you play him the less he produces. (A similar argument has been made concerning Endy Chavez.)

I think, unless Omar pulls a magical deal out of a hat, Delgado is our guy for 2008. And if Carlos breaks his leg or something, then we're not at all likely to be able to replace him with the kind of first baseman a contending team should have.

metirish
May 16 2008 12:03 PM

What about a trade , would a Paul Konerko be available , he signed a five year $60 million contract in 05 , IIRC there has been trade rumors regarding him the last few seasons. Do the Mets have the players to get him...

AG/DC
May 16 2008 12:04 PM

PASCUCCI!

I'm talking into a void here.

John Cougar Lunchbucket
May 16 2008 12:07 PM

Any thoughts on Carp's ability to hang up here?

AG/DC
May 16 2008 12:12 PM

I swear I'm hittnig submit and seeing my posts right in front of me.

Carp is to me strictly a second-half option, after having spent a few weeks in New Orleans filling the vacated spot of VALENTINE PASCUCCI.

Benjamin Grimm
May 16 2008 12:16 PM

Bringing a guy up from Double A (Carp) to play every day for a contender seems like a last resort. It might work out, but I'd hate to have it be Plan A.

As I said, Pascucci might be the lightning in a bottle. He's 29 years old, so he's not a kid. He's probably a AAAA player, but he may have a few good big league months in him, if not more.

Again, I'd only consider replacing Delgado if we had to. (Because of injury.) I can't see cutting him to replace him with Val Pascucci or Mike Carp.

attgig
May 16 2008 01:15 PM

I think the solution would be moving church to 1st base, and filling in RF with endy/pagan (when he gets back) type platoon.

smg58
May 16 2008 01:16 PM

="AG/DC"]Our AAA firstbaseman is Michel Abreu and he's not hitting right now, but almost all of our outfielders are.

I know this because I just happened to be checking up on newcomer Val Pascucci, who has played plenty of first and is tearing the cover off of it.


He's too old (29) to be considered a prospect, but he's excellent at drawing walks (27 BBs to 137 ABs) and has some pop to boot. Given that the Phillies released him last month, it would be more than a bit ironic if he wound up making a positive difference for us. I could see him earning a shot.

Grote15
May 16 2008 01:17 PM

AG/DC wrote:
PASCUCCI!

I'm talking into a void here.


Best alternative and he's in house. I agree.

Willets Point
May 16 2008 01:19 PM

Chewing on Delgado sounds like a euphemism. I don't know for what.

Grote15
May 16 2008 01:22 PM

A Euphenism? Is that like Emphysema..

Grote15
May 16 2008 01:28 PM

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote:
Any thoughts on Carp's ability to hang up here?


Would Carp be a Marlin? 4A hitter and whiff king in my opinion.

I'm firmly in the Val Pascucci camp. Reminds me of the out of nowhere return of Erubiel Durazo a few years back.

AG/DC
May 16 2008 01:54 PM

Carp, for what it's worth, is currently day-to-day with a strained muscle in his side. Fernando Martinez also "felt something pop" in his hamstring while stealing yeasterday.

metirish
May 16 2008 01:59 PM

A bit of track but the other night before a game Kevin Burkhardt was interviewing Tony Bernazard about the minor league players , Burkhardt would ask him about a player and Bernazard would refer to the player as Mr. Martinez , Mr. Murphy , Mr. Carp....very strange.

Benjamin Grimm
May 16 2008 02:01 PM

I think that's Street Spanish.

AG/DC
May 16 2008 02:04 PM

DON'T CALL UP CARP! It would be the dumbest move EVER! I can just see NOW people calling him "CRAP!" UGH!

Benjamin Grimm
May 16 2008 02:08 PM

Oooh, good point! And next year he'd be playing at Shitty Field!

Maybe he can change his name to Mike Cyprinid.

Frayed Knot
May 16 2008 02:23 PM

Carp, IIRC, had some Horrible splits vs LHP last year -- like sub-.500 OPS bad. And that was in AA.

If we need to press him into service he'd probably need a RH caddy to go along with him (Tatis?)

John Cougar Lunchbucket
May 16 2008 02:41 PM

I thought I posted this already but Crap... I mean CARP, looks pretty similar to Jacobs, numbers-wise only younger. Jake was also a AA callup, though he'd spent a couple three years there by the time.

How about Evans-Carp twoheaded rookie first-base extravaganza. Would be cool and crazy aall at once.

Nymr83
May 16 2008 02:43 PM

I think Carp is a guy you want on this roster whether starting or not, he has some pop off the bench

Elster88
Jun 01 2008 07:49 PM

Tatis was 6 for his first 14.
3 for his last 18.
9 for 32 overall.

OlerudOwned
Jun 01 2008 08:01 PM

="Frayed Knot"]Carp, IIRC, had some Horrible splits vs LHP last year -- like sub-.500 OPS bad. And that was in AA.

If we need to press him into service he'd probably need a RH caddy to go along with him (Tatis?)

That was last year, and it's why a lot of people thought he was exposed, fork stuck, and all that jazz.

But the good ones adjust, and he seems to have done a whole lot of adjusting this year.

Versus lefties this year, Carp is at .308/.328/.477 with half of his 6 homers. That's more than enough to hold his own, especially when he's raking .333/.410/.504 against righties. My excitement is being tempered by that whole .363 BABIP thing though. (It's .340 against lefties, meaning that a lot of his perceived turnaround vs. southpaws might be the result of some lucky singles falling in, especially when you consider the low isolated OBP.)

So basically, I think he's making progress. But throwing him into the fire right away is probably the exact wrong thing to do to a guy who's in the middle of a double-A transition period. I'll live with Delgado for now, thanks.

Fman99
Jun 01 2008 08:20 PM

It should be less painful with Alou and Church back in the lineup, and Beltran and Wright (hopefully) warming up at the dish the past 3-4 days.

AG/DC
Jun 01 2008 09:18 PM

I think we're drifting into MASATO territory there.

I don't believe BABIP is necessarily luck with pitchers, but I feel even moreso regarding hitters. What's Ichiro's career BABIP?

OlerudOwned
Jun 01 2008 09:23 PM

AG/DC wrote:
I think we're drifting into MASATO territory there.

I don't believe BABIP is necessarily luck with pitchers, but I feel even moreso regarding hitters. What's Ichiro's career BABIP?

Having a high BABIP certainly is not proof positive that a hitter is getting lucky, but having a high BABIP in a small sample size or having a high BABIP in comparison to your own normal levels usually would signify that. I'd still be surprised if that figure didn't regress some, but it wouldn't be unheard of.

It also doesn't help that I've seen exactly 0 of Carp's minor league at-bats. I'm just working with what I can here.

Elster88
Jun 02 2008 09:49 PM

I can live with Delgado as the #7 batter, which is where he belongs when Alou comes back. The problem is how many games does Alou play?

AG/DC
Jun 05 2008 11:53 PM

Check out what Frank Thomas has done since the Jays released him:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/t/thomafr04.shtml

Elster88
Jun 06 2008 07:20 PM

I don't get it. It gives a total without a team.

Edit: They fixed it.