As most of you know, Wily Mo Pena’s season and a half long tenure as a member of the Boston Red Sox came to an end this past Friday, when he was shipped to the Nationals, with cash considerations, in exchange for an ever-popular Player To Be Named Later. Rumors swirled about who this mysterious PTBNL might be, until the Boston Globe reported today that, much to the surprise of many, the player the Sox will be getting in return is not currently with the Nationals. Rather, it’s likely to be Diamondbacks’ prospect Chris Carter.
I had no clue how Chris Carter was doing these days, but the name rang a bell for some reason. So I called-up my friend, something of a college baseball buff, and he informed me that Carter played his collegiate ball at Stanford, and that I had definitely seen him play on numerous occasions (I attended quite a few Stanford games in 2004). I thought back to those days, and realized that Carter was one of my favorite players to watch that year — his last in a Cardinal uniform. The good folks at The Baseball Cube reminded me that Carter batted .289/.392/.523 for Stanford that year, playing mainly first-base, but also some leftfield. I also discovered that he was drafted by Arizona in the 17th round of the 2004 amateur draft, and tore through the lower levels of the minors after joining the D-backs organization.
From looking at his numbers on the aforelinked (Is that a word? It is now!) TBC page, it’s evident that Carter has some pop, an average glove at first, and a fairly good eye at the plate. A scouting report that Frank linked to in the comments section a few posts ago suggested that Carter is a free-swinger. I guess that’s possible, though he’s definitely not in the Russell Branyan/Adam Dunn category, because the Bay Area native compiled a 78/69 BB/K ratio in 509 at-bats for AAA-Tucson in 2006. While Carter’s power is comparable to that of Kevin Youkilis, he’s no Greek God with the glove at first-base, and his eye isn’t Youk good.
The same scouting report also mentions that Carter, 25, is likely a fringe player who may never provide anything more than minor league depth for his organization. Perhaps, but a .330/.385/.534 line in AAA with 38 doubles and 18 homers, even in a hitter-friendly environment such as Tucson (and the PCL), is nothing to sneeze at. And his success against righthanded pitchers makes Carter a fairly decent lefthanded bat off the bench, with passable defense at first-base and in a corner-outfield spot (though he lacks a decent arm — think Coco type throws). The same cannot be said of Wily Mo, in terms of his defensive ability.
For his minor league career, Chris Carter is a .313/.393/.528 hitter, in 1801 lifetime at-bats. He has 233 walks against 242 strikeouts, and 85 career long balls. A lefthanded batter with decent opposite-field skills, Carter could potentially thrive in a reserve role for the Sox, as his approach fits Fenway Park quite well.
He is not however, I’ve come to believe, a guy who can be relied upon as a starter on a contending club. He is not a guy who is going to push Mike Lowell out of town and move Youkilis across the diamond.
All things considered, Carter is likely a marginal offensive upgrade over our current lefty bench option, Eric Hinske.
In exchange for the Wily Mo we saw in 2007, that’s not a bad deal. (Even if he does thrive with the Nats, it’s almost certain that he wouldn’t have succeeded in Boston.)
I’ll end with this: His rampant inconsistency in 2007 nothwithstanding, I miss Bronson Arroyo.
By the way, here’s some interesting Theo news.
—Daniel Rathman
