Chewing on Delgado

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

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]

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?

[Guest 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.

[metirish]

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

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

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]

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]

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...

[Guest AG/DC]

PASCUCCI!

I'm talking into a void here.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

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

[Guest AG/DC]

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]

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.

[Guest attgig]

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]

="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.

[Guest Grote15]

AG/DC wrote: PASCUCCI! I'm talking into a void here.

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

[Willets Point]

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

[Guest Grote15]

A Euphenism? Is that like Emphysema..

[Guest Grote15]

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.

[Guest AG/DC]

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]

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]

I think that's Street Spanish.

[Guest AG/DC]

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

[Benjamin Grimm]

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

Maybe he can change his name to Mike Cyprinid.

[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?)

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

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]

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

[Elster88]

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

[Guest OlerudOwned]

="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]

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.

[Guest AG/DC]

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?

[Guest OlerudOwned]

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.