Twins Acquire Chris Carter

[Richie the Rally Goat]

If Mauer is out longer than 10 days, Morrison is at first. There are DH ABs open, and you might see Carter suck some of those up.

 

One of LaMarre/Cave goes back to AAA, Grossman goes back to primarily spelling corner OFers and pinch hitting.

6 outfielders (if you count Grossman as OF) is excessive. Cave as a lefty should have his bag packed.

[jkcarew]

Yep to Chief's comment.  Probably just seemed like a good time to jump on an opportunity to improve organizational depth at 1B/DH, and more specifically right handed depth.  Joe has been DH for nearly 25% of games prior to going down.

 

Also, confirmation that nobody in the organization thinks 23-year-old Brent Rooker is anywhere close.  Which should be obvious, but it seemed many here were very optimistic on Rooker during the past off-season.  He's playing mostly 1B now at Chattanooga, but slashing 236/273/379 with 4 HR and 7/51 BB/K.  Looking better recently, but hasn't exactly caught on fire yet, either.

[Otto von Ballpark]

is there a site/table/conversion chart or something to adjust between leagues? Did you calculate yourself?

Fangraphs does it for minor leagues with wRC+. Although unlike the MLB version of that stat, it doesn't include park factors, only league.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Nope. Carter is the better move here. Bautista suited up for the Mets that evening. Carter isn't even on the 40-man roster.

Would Target Field help restore Bautista's mojo? Although maybe it was more the Twins pitching those years...

[laloesch]

 

I thought Chris Carter was voted into the Football HOF after he retired? 

 

He's also the creator of the xfiles

[Richie the Rally Goat]

Would Target Field help restore Bautista's mojo? Although maybe it was more the Twins pitching those years...

Tigers and Royals pitching might provide a similar stat padding

[Mr. Brooks]

Nope. Carter is the better move here. Bautista suited up for the Mets that evening. Carter isn't even on the 40-man roster.

I thought Carter took Hughes 40 man spot?

[alarp33]

 

I thought Carter took Hughes 40 man spot?

 

He was on a minor league deal with LAA, I assume he's not on 40 man. Hughes spot will go to Santana or May

[Darius]

If he was the same guy who hit 40+ HRs in 2016, he'd be in a major league squad somewhere. He's in the minors for a reason.

 

Nobody cares the mention the 8 HR and Mendoza line BA last year, while playing in that joke of a slow-pitch softball diamond in the Bronx? Or his career .217 BA and 2.5 WAR?

 

I'm sorry, but if this guy makes the Twins better....the Twins suck.

[KirbyDome89]

 

Because this team has no RH bat who they can send to the plate late in the game who has a chance to tie the score with one swing.

He doesn't have to be a better overall player than Grossman; they just have no need for Grossman's skill set.

A big gripe with Danny Santana was that he provided minimal or only situational usage for his roster spot. I don't see this as being much different. Yes, Carter is more likely to hit a HR than Grossman, but he's also almost guaranteed to give you consistently worse ABs. I get that this offense needs help right now, but I don't think the answer is to plug in a guy who looked cooked last year and cross your fingers that he hits a few HRs. 

[USAFChief]

A big gripe with Danny Santana was that he provided minimal or only situational usage for his roster spot. I don't see this as being much different. Yes, Carter is more likely to hit a HR than Grossman, but he's also almost guaranteed to give you consistently worse ABs. I get that this offense needs help right now, but I don't think the answer is to plug in a guy who looked cooked last year and cross your fingers that he hits a few HRs.

my gripe with Danny Santana was after his rookie season he put up OPS+ of 46, 64, 56, 56, 56.

 

He couldn't hit, even a little.

 

Maybe Carter is done, but he's a better offensive player than Danny Santana.

 

He may or may not be more help than Grossman as a DH.

[ashbury]

my gripe with Danny Santana was after his rookie season he put up OPS+ of 46, 64, 56, 56, 56.

You're looking at b-r.com, right? Watch out for the multi-team bad seasons. At least, his performance for MIN and ATL was consistent.

[Mr. Brooks]

A big gripe with Danny Santana was that he provided minimal or only situational usage for his roster spot. I don't see this as being much different. Yes, Carter is more likely to hit a HR than Grossman, but he's also almost guaranteed to give you consistently worse ABs. I get that this offense needs help right now, but I don't think the answer is to plug in a guy who looked cooked last year and cross your fingers that he hits a few HRs.

I think the gripe with DSan was that he was bad at everything.

[snepp]

 

I think we're all missing the real point here. The Twins now have Chris Carter and Jake Reed in AAA. Maybe Randy Moss always wanted to play baseball?

 

Brandon Moss is a free agent. Entice him into a name change?

 

 

 

[KirbyDome89]

 

my gripe with Danny Santana was after his rookie season he put up OPS+ of 46, 64, 56, 56, 56.

He couldn't hit, even a little.

Maybe Carter is done, but he's a better offensive player than Danny Santana.

He may or may not be more help than Grossman as a DH.

 

 

I think the gripe with DSan was that he was bad at everything.

 

DanSan was horrible, no doubt, but that wasn't the comp I was making.

 

Even at his worst there was still a group that felt his ability to pinch run and his ability to play multiple positions, albeit not well, warranted a roster spot. IMO that's not valuable enough, even for the 25th spot. I don't see Carter taking up a roster spot as much different. If the best we can say about the guy is he can pinch hit, on an AL team, and maybe he'll hit a HR then I'll pass. Apart from that occasional HR, he provides almost no value. I just don't see how adding a guy who will struggle to hit near the Mendoza line and K in 1/3 of his ABs will help this team turn the offense around. 

 

I'll note that I'm not even a huge Robbie fan, but in the same way Morrison isn't a .200 hitter, Grossman isn't as bad as his numbers suggest. He's played much better the last few weeks. 

[DocBauer]

There should be no consternation on this move whatsoever. Cost only cash. I am completely disappointed and frustrated by Vargas as a past supporter and believer. Carter shores up the Rochester roster. If Mauer's injury turns out to be worse than reported/expected, Carter could, if he returns to previous form, and he's not far removed from decent ML production, provide a big power RH bat to DH and back up 1B. There is zero risk here and next to zero investment.

 

Personally, for now at least, id concentrate on hoping tbe best for Joe, pug Grossman in the #1 spot while hes producing, and be eagerly awaiting tbe return of Sano.

[Platoon]

It looks like we have developed a new metric. The "RG". RG is at what level a players value to the Twins roster is, when compared to the real "RG". While it's difficult to give a statistical comparison due to the subjective feelings on the actual value of the real RG himself, it does allow us a broad way to stratify a potential roster addition. Some of the criteria used in the RG analytical model: can the player in question look amazed when taking a called third strike? Run in a straight, but albeit slow straight, line after a fly ball? Hit the cutoff man on one bounce? Hit in head scratching batting positions? Now remember, I did say the RG was a subjective analytical device. And based on that premise, I don't think any of the Cris Carters mentioned above would help the current Twins roster. Not to speak of the roster of an actual contender.

[howieramone2]

In 2016 TR prematurely gambled our young stars were ready to shine. There was no plan B, much less a plan C. The new regime will not risk another 2016. Carter is plan C, as was the signing of Anibal Sanchez during ST. Nothing more.

[TheLeviathan]

Well, if nothing else this thread produced a post in which howie said something slightly negative about Terry Ryan.

 

I now have a solid reason to endorse this move.

[Mill1634]

I guess I don't hate the move. If it means Mauer is going to be out for a longer period of time I actually like it. That means LoMo has to play first, and it does no good having the DH be Robbie Grossman. I'd much rather have a masher and someone that can come off the bench with power. Could do a lot worse at DH despite the strikeout issues. Here's to hoping Mauer is back sooner rather than later though.

[The Wise One]

 

When the Twins are down one in the 9th with one out and Adrianza and Wilson are due up, I'll take Chris Carter for a shot to tie up the game over Robbie Grossman's shot at drawing a walk.

 

And if a base on balls is someone's thing and Grossman's ability to work a count really floats their boat, Carter isn't too shabby at drawing walks either with a career 11.5% BB rate.

a 20% chance of a hit, a 4% chance of a HR. If you want an improved club one should find someone that is at least an average player.  Keep in mind that with statcast it gets easier to figure out what they guy can't hit. If your hope is the best relief pitcher on the other team makes a mistake you have no shot.  There is a reason the Yankees dumped him last year despite needing the bat.

[USAFChief]

 

a 20% chance of a hit, a 4% chance of a HR. If you want an improved club one should find someone that is at least an average player.  Keep in mind that with statcast it gets easier to figure out what they guy can't hit. If your hope is the best relief pitcher on the other team makes a mistake you have no shot.  There is a reason the Yankees dumped him last year despite needing the bat.

I think if you want an improved club, you should find someone better than what you've got.

[Craig Arko]

The truth is out there.

[The Wise One]

 

I think if you want an improved club, you should find someone better than what you've got.

Replacing below average players with below average players is not really an improvement . It is just a different ineffective player.

[ashbury]

Replacing below average players with below average players is not really an improvement . It is just a different ineffective player.

Effective versus ineffective is not a binary switch. There are degrees. Those degrees may improve your team.

[Riverbrian]

Chris Carter reported to Rochester is my understanding. To my knowledge he hasn't been placed on the 25 or 40 man roster. 

 

Not sure why we would be overly concerned about bringing someone in on a minor league deal. 

[Otto von Ballpark]

Brock Stassi (who had been splitting 1B/DH with Vargas) was released from Rochester, so Carter definitely seems like a AAA reinforcement at this time.

[The Wise One]

 

Effective versus ineffective is not a binary switch. There are degrees. Those degrees may improve your team.

speaking of degrees, 20 below or 22 below is still cold but relatively the same thing.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

speaking of degrees, 20 below or 22 below is still cold but relatively the same thing.

depends on your scale

[The Wise One]

 

depends on your scale

You can figure it is not the Kelvin scale for measuring temperature