Comments on: Two Reasons Why Matt Carpenter Stays In Memphis

By: Mike G

Mike G — Tue, 03 May 2011 17:35:34 +0000

The person who really needs to leave the 40-man roster is Ryan Franklin by way of the waiver wire and/or the more likely unconditional release. This, however, almost certainly won’t happen because the Cardinals don’t want to have to pay him his big salary unless he is on the roster. They would much rather pay him for messing up every game he appears in than for simply going away and not being able to mess things up.

By: PJ

PJ — Tue, 03 May 2011 15:00:24 +0000

I know you are probably correct that Carp is not coming up anytime soon….but I hope you’re wrong.

I would love to see how his OB skills and LH bat play in the 2 hole in the Cards lineup

By: shaneo69

shaneo69 — Tue, 03 May 2011 14:05:24 +0000

The thing that annoys me about LaRussa is that he won’t put Craig at 3B because of his defense, yet he has no problem writing Theriot in at SS every night.

By: cariocacardinal

cariocacardinal — Tue, 03 May 2011 13:52:12 +0000

Agree, I dont think Carpenter is out of the equation but I´d guess they try it without him first and see if someone steps up.

By: Mrs. TLR

Mrs. TLR — Tue, 03 May 2011 11:11:32 +0000

The Cards could try Craig at 3B for a couple of weeks, give him an audition. He might hit enough. Or they could waste a month with Punto, Greene, and Descalso at 3B, until they get sick of them. At that rate, Matt Carpenter may get a promotion around mid June.

By: tom s.

tom s. — Tue, 03 May 2011 07:49:07 +0000

the striking thing to me was the distance the ball went after hitting his hand. it looked like it bounced all the way back to the net. if a ball hits flesh, a lot of the energy in the collision is lost. instead, the pitch bounced like it had hit a brick. it must have hit nothing but bone.

By: shaneo69

shaneo69 — Tue, 03 May 2011 04:25:09 +0000

Put Freese on 60-day and bring up Carp.

By: Gruntosaurus

Gruntosaurus — Mon, 02 May 2011 23:28:23 +0000

It’s fair to ask whether that HBP would have broken other players’ hands. Not everyone has bones of equal strength versus impact. My feeling is that it probably would have — I saw it happen and immediately suspected a fracture — but I’m not completely willing to say this injury had nothing to do with Freese’s reputation for being fragile. Pity, because you’re right, he was taking off.

By: jjray

jjray — Mon, 02 May 2011 22:13:57 +0000

Probably platoon in Craig @ 3B as well. As far as M Carp goes, I personally think the only issue should be whether he helps the team now. Of course the organization cares about extra costs but I as a fan do not. I’m just not sympathetic to the argument of saving small $s when this potentially could be Albert Pujol’s last season in STL. I’m not suggesting we trade the farm for rentals, merely not get cheap about a few hundred thousand dollars one way or the other and make a decision about players like M Carp for baseball reasons as opposed to business reasons.

By: T Bird

T Bird — Mon, 02 May 2011 21:33:59 +0000

This was a freak accident, wholly unrelated to the chronic issues that shelved Freese last year. Players break hands as the result of inside fastballs consistently. We’re talking about a short-term replacement here. Freese is the 3rd basement of the present and the future once he returns. The only risk w/ Freese is whether his ankle(s) hold up.

If Carpenter is called up, he will not play 3rd exclusively, as he will get time in the outfield. When Freese comes back and if Carpenter remains, Freese will be the everyday 3rd basemen. Freese has shown a solid glove and an above-average bat (when healthy). Too bad this happened…he was really starting to take off.