Update II: And Joe Strauss confirms the Matt Carpenter callup.
Update: First shoe drops – Kozma sent down, Mark Hamilton called up per Matthew Leach. Maikel Cleto remains on the roster but one has to wonder how long the Cardinals continue with 13 pitchers.
The rumors are starting to fly fast and thick. This seems like a where there’s smoke there is fire and I expect that a beat reporter will confirm in the near term. [Please note: I am NOT confirming a callup in this piece currently.]
I made the case one month ago why Matt Carpenter wouldn’t be called up. It rested upon three basic points:
- David Freese would not be out for very long.
- Matt Carpenter was not on the 40-man roster.
- Matt Carpenter was not hitting terribly well.
The first premise turned out to be wrong as Freese will have been out for upwards two months and while Freese has made comments about being ahead of schedule, he’d benefit from a rehab start.
In the past several weeks the Cardinals have cleared some less useful components from the 40-man roster with PJ Walters being outrighted and Blake King being claimed by Houston. The 40-man roster currently stands at 39 leaving a clear spot for Matt Carpenter.
The final reason that Matt Carpenter wasn’t called up was that, frankly, he wasn’t playing in a way that obviously warranted promotion. A month ago he had a 106 wRC+. While he’s sported a .400 OBP consistently during the course of the season but the power he showed at Springfield has dissipated back to Palm Beach levels.
Since then, Carpenter has performed slightly better raising his wRC+ to 112 (100 is average) and sporting a .417 OBP. Matt Carpenter has a very specific and exceptional skill. He will not swing at bad pitches and he will take a ton of walks. He’s currently walking in 16% of his plate appearances, which is tops in the Pacific Coast League.
If the Cardinals call him up, and it certainly seems like they will announce that shortly, he’s the best option to start at third base. Don’t expect a lot of home runs. Don’t expect flashy plays in the field. Do expect the best batting eye of anyone on the team. Do expect a fundamentally sound player at the plate and in the field. That’s what Matt Carpenter is and it’s something that the Cardinals don’t really have at third base right now.
Entries (RSS)
I will guess Andrew Brown gets the call.
Since Maikel Cleto got a call out of absolutely nowhere, I’m going to say Zack Cox…because, why not!
Lets be serious now no way COX is getting called up… Matt Adams would have a better chance than him. Rumor is that Hamilton is getting called up so Adams can be promoted to AAA.
As usual with a robot, the logic is fundamental, digital, binary, and impeccable. Which makes it just as likely that the Cardinals will call up someone totally unexpected. Carpenter made a good impression on everyone in spring training including, apparently, TLR. So I’ve been wondering if we’d see him this season. Actually, it would have been nice to have seen him up here before it became necessary to play AP at third, but that’s just my unwashed opinion. In any event, if he comes up, I hope he shows well. I wouldn’t mind, at all, if he could eventually stick there. A kind of Wade Boggs-y sort of hitter over at third would be pretty nice.
I was actually thinking that Carpenter may be the next John Kruk or Tony Gwynn…
Well, there’s that, too. (Time for the brown paper hyperventilating geek bags.)
Here’s your top all time left handed hitters:
Tony Gwynn:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/1150/tony-gwynn
Wade Boggs:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/1098/wade-boggs
George Brett:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/41/george-brett
Don Mattingly:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/1197/don-mattingly
Ichiro Suzuki:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/4570/ichiro-suzuki
Pete Rose:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/397/pete-rose
Rod Carew:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/55/rod-carew
Ty Cobb:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/20249/ty-cobb
Rogers Hornsby:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/23082/rogers-hornsby
Ted Williams:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/28096/ted-williams
http://espn.go.com/mlb/history/leaders
Most important on the list:
Stan the man:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/25643/stan-musial
The Rajah, Rogers Hornsby was a right handed batsman.
Also, Pete Rose was a switch hitter. What about Lou Gehrig or Babe Ruth. They weren’t too bad.
Can anyone think of a great hitting prospect we’ve had comparable to Shelby Miller, Rick Ankiel etc? Do you think JD Drew or Colby would be the equivalent?
Thanks
I think Drew and Colby are hitting equivelents to Miller and Ankiel. Drew got a MLB contract and alot of money. He was also a top pick the year before. Colby ended up being the 3rd best prospect in baseball before he made it to the bigs.
Barry Bonds?
Matthew Leach is confirming that Carpenter’s contract has been purchased from Memphis, Carpenter will be called up with a pitcher being sent down.
http://yourenotagolfer.mlblogs.com/
As reported by @JoeStrauss Matt Carpenter, Mark Hamilton up for Cards http://bit.ly/ipSJm6
23 minutes ago
Other rumor is that Matt Adams is being promoted to AAA as well with the Hamilton call up taking place.
Thanks for the link. Where is the rumor about Adams coming from? Any of these claims valid? Would love to see it happen though……
nothing yet… just rumblings.. but what I have heard makes total sense….
Fascinating day to be an organization watcher.
Anyway, if I’m counting correctly, we’ve got 16 players on the current roster who were drafted by the Cardinals.
I like Carpenter a lot and think he is a better 3rd baseman the Cox anyway. I truly feel we paid way to much to Cox. He is an average player compared to Matt Carpenter.
What makes you say Cox is an avg player compared to Carpenter?
I personally see Carpenter as a better 3B defender but they seem to have the same power upside (not much HR power but both should hit plenty of doubles). Carpenter will be the better OBP but I see Cox as having a higher avg over time. So to me they are close to equal value players. Just curious on your thought process on the topic though.
I got to watch both players in PB. Carpenter has more discipline at the plate. Very selective with his pitches. On 3rd he has a quick release low on errors. Again this is my opinion. Don’t het me wrong I like Cox but feel Carpenter is my man for 3rd base.
Lastly. I don’t look at who was drafted 1st to a 13th round pick. I look at who brings it during the season. Since day one Matt showed he got it and with little bonus money look where he is today. I remember other players that shine like Curtis Smith who was a no one to others and yet he shined and due to an injury lost his battle for position. Look at others like Adam who was drafted late and yet he’s a star in the making. Or Castelano who was not on the Radar to some but has made himself known in PB and now in Springfield. These are low bonus guys.
Definitely agree. I never base on rankings on where a player was drafted but how they perform and grow as a player once in the system. I have always been a Carpenter fan even back in the TCU days. I projected him to be a 3-5th Rd pick and I was amazed he fell to the 13th Rd and was thrill we nabbed him. I have praised that pick ever since. I was just curious on your views on him vs Cox as I like to get other perspectives on these types of topics. I definitely agree with you Carp is the better D 3B but see them as equals at the plate at this stage of their careers.
Keep in mind that there was little to predict that a 13th-round draft choice would ever reach the majors at all, let alone be a potential starter at third base if Freese doesn’t work out. Carpenter has overperformed any reasonable projections dating to draft day. If Cox outperforms his projections by a similar margin, his deal will look very good. Unlikely? To be sure. But stranger things have happened.
Also this….Zack Cox played second base last nite!!! He will be a PLUS hitter at that spot
Box score says 3b.
He played second base by the third base bag. They had a REALLY severe shift going on.
Regarding Carpenter, doesn’t waiting until June to call him up delay his arbitration clock or something like that?
Given his age and the likelihood he’s going to be a solid but not amazing player, I’m not convinced it makes a massive amount of difference.
I think having to make decisions on the 40 man roster movement was the biggest reason they waited. They also wanted to see how others would perform at 3B after Freese was injured before making this decision. Remember Carp is a 3B only and plenty of the other guys they have/had up were quite versatile. Maybe if they were debating on bringing him up in late May they just decided to wait an extra week or so to save money on arbitration but doubt it had anything to do with not calling him up a month ago. And keep in mind a month ago Carp was not performing that well…so it was smart to leave him down to get positive momentum.