That very well could be the case.... But ultimately, they'd have no clue until they see what they do once they're up here and start making adjustments. I don't think it's possible to be that much worse than Carter right now. Let's see if the Lowrie injury (if serious) changes the thinking.
White is more or less "found money". There shouldn't be any reason to speculate whether he is or isn't ready yet. Throw him into the fire and find out.
I am not disagreeing with either of you. I would have had White up long before now and would have given Reed serious consideration around the trade deadline. What is odd to me is that we didn't get a first baseman at the deadline.
They probably tried. But didn't want to break the bank for one if they possibly have a homegrown replacement ready to go. They certainly have found a bit of fortune with Marwin being able to handle the position... But like I said before, Lowrie being down for an extended period of time could change everything.
They're going to look like complete idiots if this spurs them to make that move. They'd be admitting that Carter has been a complete waste of a space (more than just a waste of space) on the 25-man for the past month or so.
As if people don't already see that? He's playing less than ever, and when he does play he's usually getting pinch hit for in key situations. Like I said, if they think he's traceable, and that assett outweighs whatever they feel a promotion could improve at 1b over him, Marwin or valbuena, that is the main reason why they will hang on to him. But at this point, the Carter experiment failed. Everybody sees that. There's already egg/stench involving the situation, and at this point, I can't see them giving him regular playing time again if Lowrie is done.
I'm just saying, if they never cut him, they never have to answer the "well, why in the hell didn't you do it sooner??" question. As things stand, they can always hide under the guise of expecting things to turn around for him at some point. Easier to propagate that than to basically have to admit that they've been willingly leaving a gargantuan-sized hole in the championship-contending big league lineup just so they can have a shot at getting something for him in return in the offseason.
If they never cut him... and they simply non-tender him in the off-season after every team refuses to trade for him... and they're not coming off a world series championship... it will still look terrible. My premise is that no matter what they do from here on out, they were "wrong" on him and it really won't matter all that much when they ultimately decide to move on. Its also clear they've moved well past the "guise of expecting things to turn around for him at some point." As it is, they've still only recently made the decision to go "all in" for this year. You can experiment more with Carter during a year like last season, or even what this season was "expected" to be.... now that they're committed, its coincided with a sharp decrease in playing time for him. With Lowrie coming back, and Marwin able to play some first, there really was no clear-cut role for him anymore. I doubt they simply go back to the way things were if Lowrie is out for good. And since when has this front office been afraid of "looking like idiots?" or getting a bunch of criticism? I don't think anything could be worse than what they went through when this team was awful by design, was experimenting left and right, was stashing players like Springer more for financial reasons.... the dilemma of Chris Carter barely registers on the spectrum compared to what they've had to face head-on the last 3-4 years. What's really funny (sad) is that throughout all this conversation, not once has Jon Singleton's name come up... and I flat-out forgot about him as a potential 1B option. Just to get this thread back on track, how's he been doing in the minors since his demotion?
And getting back to Nook's earlier comment... Jon Singleton was deemed "ready" by this front office, but apparently White/Reed are not? They'd all be the first to tell you that you don't really know how a guys going to do for sure till he's up here.
But "going all in" isn't simply decreasing his playing time..."going all in" would have been the other option - dumping him and not worrying about losing whatever potential return they can get in the offseason. They put the "all in" talk to bed weeks ago when they chose option A. I didn't say they are afraid, I just said they will look like idiots. Maybe it's because I was fully on board with their scorched earth strategy, but potentially costing the team valuable wins in the dead heat of a pennant chase because they want to see if they can get an asset in return for Carter in the offseason would vault to an easy #1 on my list of inexcusable decisions. And my criticisms of this regime to this point have been pretty close to nil.
Perhaps a few weeks ago, still the slightest glimmer of a turnaround and still with 40 man roster flexibility implications to be worked out with the impending shuffling of LM, VV, etc. Carter clearly lost his starting job for good when Lowrie was back... as it is,he hasn't been a regular starter since the beginning of July. Well, go ahead and label them as idiots then... Carter failed to recapture the flukeish 2-month hot streak of last season that this front office's analytic team likely banked on him getting close to again. Their hand-picked successor (Singleton) has looked even more lost and likely won't be on the MLB roster for the rest of the season. The wins have likely been all but costed at this point (with Carter's playing time being shuffled away)... he's here because in this front office's mindset, its still likely more important to try and get something for him vs. losing him for nothing.
I don't think that's really the tradeoff. I actually think it's more about the 40 man roster into the offseason. If we call up Reed or White, that's 1 less person that we can protect this offseason. Further, the other piece of the equation is the impact. With Lowrie back and playing well in the first half of this month, any call up is going to be a platoon at best. Luhnow may want Reed/White to continue to get regular ABs at this point in their development -- they're moving fast up the ladder, but they're in their first and second full seasons of pro ball, respectively. So, putting it altogether, here's the tradeoff. By keeping Carter, you're betting on some combination of the following of the following: A.) Carter getting hot in the 2nd half, which he's done the past 2 years B.) Receiving something in return for Carter in a trade C.) 40 man roster spot saved by keeping Reed/White down will allow team to protect an otherwise would be drafted player D.) Reed/White not having any impact as a rookie if called up now anyway vs. Reed or White being a materially better option than current Marwin/Valbuena/Carter platoon. Carter is certainly frustrating, but I don't see this as a simple decision at all. I think the combination of A/C/D has kept Carter here for now. It wouldn't shock anyone if Carter is dropped from the post season roster, barring a September revival. Still, I think Luhnow made a calculated bet that the odds of Carter regaining his prior form are better than a recently drafted player that started the year in A or AA coming in and lighting the world on fire. In the instance that neither came true (which is the most likely scenario), then the roster flexibility will come in handy so we don't lose a guy who could be a contributor (a la Deshields) again.
1st - Singleton wasn't handpicked. Old front office acquired him. IDK why you say that... guess you should just be labeled as an idiot. 2ndT - Why can't you do both? That's the FO mindset, you don't waste value. You'd really be dumb if you cut carter and you bring up the the lord and savior White (450 BABIP, hitting 280 at AA before AAA) and he sucks. You'd lose a 40 man spot in the process with White because you don't have to protect him next year. Remember how singleton was tearing up AAA? And tools to back it up. 3rd - This is bigger than this year, this is the present and future. Going "all in" gets you to where we were 6 years ago. The Jays going all in is going to get them to sucking for a few years. 4th - What's wrong with Duffy? Look up his stats, and he would need to be protected after this year if you're worried about keeping him. Oh and he can play defense which is just dandy.
Amen. This dude gets it. I would also add a negative to calling X player up is that it could hurt their development. Again Duffy should be in consideration.
The only reason this premise is being discussed is because Lowrie left the game yesterday with an injury (again), and I don't know if he will stay healthy enough the rest of the season. So, Carter could be back to playing a lot more, which as is makes this team worse. There's also quite a bit of fat to trim off the 40 man. They intentionally lost Deshields last year (if they really wanted to keep him, they could of). Not worried at all about them losing somebody that they feel is worth hanging on to.
Jon Kemmer has 4 straight 2-hit games in Corpus, and his OPS for the season now stands at 1.001 in 95 games.
