Luhnow has done so much good that it's hard to question his thinking...but there is simply no logical reason Carter remains on this roster. There is not one single thing he does well enough to warrant him being there. I understand wanting to keep assets but he is no longer one that would bring back anything other than a bag of crushed potato chips. Luhnow might actually have to pay out to get someone else to take him. It's weird seeing how this season has gone with the success and all of the rookies that have contributed...and then seeing Carter remain on the active roster despite being the worst offensive player in baseball.
Astros made a few trade deadline deals because they said we're going for it this year. We need something similar before Sept 1st. Be bold, shake up the 40 man roster and bring up Tyler White so that should he do well, he'd be eligible for the postseason. This team needs another offensive spark. I don't expect Springer to come in an immediately start raking the ball so we need someone else.
I was playing The Show 15 last night and someone threw a no hitter against me. I said eff that, because I can't go to sleep after a no hitter was just thrown against me. So I played another online game and did this... Spoiler Come at me.
The original thinking was with Lowrie back and Gomez acquired, there would be very little reason to play Carter at 1B or DH (they'd be able to shuffle Marwin between 1B and the OF, and Valbuena at 1B and 3B). In fact, they sent Tucker down simply to clear up some of that OF log-jam, also in advance of Springer coming back... as Marisnick is still warranting some playing time for defense. White (or Reed) would not be a full time player without having to cut playing time to one of Gonzalez, Valbuena, Lowrie, Marisnick... thus why nothing has been done. That all changes if Lowrie (or anybody else) goes down... I'm sure they would have rather had Tucker in the lineup over Carter last night. I agree that he's basically useless at this point... so they either cut him now and allow him to go elsewhere for nothing, or stash him and prevent him from getting motivated elsewhere for this season (and simply non-tender him or trade him in the off-season).
Why would they DFA now? You don't know his value on the market. Why the baseless white affection? 280 hitter in AA this year and a 400 + BABIP and doesn't play defense and will use up a 40 man spot for this offseason. If youre going to ***** why not Duffy? Look at his stats, more proven can play 3rd of 1st with defense. Rule 5 eligible. The more you know.
You should stop waiting, it isn't gonna happen. The second they demoted Tucker, that was the loud and clear sign they are keeping Carter. We will just hide him after Sep 1. I highly doubt they plan on non-tendering him. Luhnow has shown himself to be a very pragmatic GM. They have been wasting a roster spot on Carter for weeks now (some would say longer, not me). I doubt they did that just to prevent him from playing well elsewhere. They must think they can get something for him, or else there was no reason whatsoever to keep him. As a part time player he has somehow managed to get even worse.
I think there WAS logical reason until...oh, 2 weeks ago. When both Lowrie and Gomez came back and it was clear that Lowrie was legitimately back, it became unnecessary. But at that point, you only had to wait 3 weeks before you'd be able to keep him and try to get back the crushed potato chips in the offseason. We've seen Luhnow extract more than expected in trades...I think he wants those lottery tickets. And as long as the team was playing decent / in 1st place, he could retain that possibility without losing a ton. While also having the 1% chance that Carter HRs or even builds some value in the meantime. I think if Springer came back WAY earlier than expected, they would have dumped him in a heartbeat. I think if the team fell from 1st before ~yesterday (now there's just a week to go), they would have dumped him. But without clearly better options than Valbuena and Marwin at 1B as options to replace Carter on the roster, it became a risk/reward thing. We really need to get over it now, though. There are 6 days left. He's not going to play much/at all in September (unless he hits ~3 straight PH HRs). And he's going to be gone in the offseason.
Carter doesn't even get enough at-bats to break out of his slump because he's not playing every day. He needs to go down to AAA and play daily. Then, once he starts hitting again, bring him back up. But, what a letdown he has been this season after what he did last season. He's flat out terrible. Every time he bats now...the last thing on my mind is he will hit a HR to win the game. It just doesn't happen anymore with him.
Sure, they'll try and get something for him... and if they don't, what do you think they'll do? As it is, he's not worth the $4 million he's getting now, and will be getting at least that much next year (even though he didn't earn any sort of pay raise this year).
so when do lowrie and springer get back? springer will get his second BP today. I'd put him out there in the carter role, swing with one hand. he'd probably still draw a walk. =)
Once the September call-ups are in place, I expect to see a lot less of Carter. Keeping him the lineup until now does make sense in a few ways: 1) Gave him and us time to see if he has his historic late season breakout. 2) His trade value was zilch. So trading him was out of the question. 3) We all knew September was coming, so merely cutting him 3 weeks ago was not likely to affect our overall W/L record much either way. 4) This team, I think, wants to show it gives its players chances to redeem themselves. Especially concerning the younger players, I dont think we want a lingering message in the back of their minds that bad stretches equivocate to excommunication. But despite what I said, a good case could have and can be made for ridding ourselves of him. I just think the potential pluses of keeping him around outweighed (barely) cutting him.
Although at this point, if they DFA'd him... not sure which team would automatically take a flyer on him. Of course, he'd have to "accept" the assignment rather than being granted his outright release.
My guess is that they will activate Springer on 09/01 unless he has a set back. I suspect they'll send him to Corpus to get a few games in prior to that as long as he continues to progress.
I'm sure there are some CBA rules against such actions if its not legit... we thought they were doing that with Qualls earlier in the year, but he actually had a real injury that was affecting him (and he's since been really good since receiving treatment).
Teams have to submit an application to MLB along with the info & diagnosis made by the team doctor to put someone on the DL. I'd think the repercussions of faking an injury would be pretty severe for the club and especially the physician.
Yep... figured. Meanwhile, in the NBA you can by put on IR for a bruised ovary and nobody will question anything.
