The Mets designated Frank Catalanotto for assignment, according to Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com (via Twitter). The Mets have called Chris Carter up to replace the 36-year-old utility man. Catalanotto hit .167/.200/.208 for the Mets in 25 plate appearances this year, almost exclusively off the bench. Catalanotto will have his career .296/.360/.456 line against righties to point to if the Mets release him.
Carter has just 26 big league plate appearances to his name, but he is hitting well at Triple A Buffalo. His .339/.395/.615 line was enough to impress the Mets front office. The 27-year-old's 132 minor league homers suggest he could provide the Mets with some power.
I don’t understand how this guy lost a starting job, he was always solid, even enough to at least warrant a major league contract.
He lost it because he was batting .167, and he’s 36.
Now, not when he first got shafted out of a major league deal.
Finally.
I hope Chris Carter does well. Never really got a chance when he was with the red sox, which I always thought was a bit of a shame. Could do with him at DH right now! 🙂
Anyway, I hope he sticks in the bigs with the Mets.
I agree. Probably because he is a fair at best 1b is why he never had a chance in Boston and Youk,ortiz clogging up those 2 positions for the Sox the last few years at 1B and DH. DH is really only position think he is suited for anyway, mets not going to get much range from what have read about him, just hope that his minor league power translates in a hurry, which I hope it does.
now all we need is for HoJo to get reassigned to 1st base coach, Razor Shines needs to get the boot. Dave Jauss can be the bench coach. We need another hitting instructor…and we need to stop babying David Wright…if not for DW, Hojo would’ve been fired in 2009. I know they want to make DW the face of the franchise…but at what cost…the man is striking out at an alarming rate…i cant remember the last time he had a clutch hit ( WBC against PR ? ) …the mets have based a critical team decision around a player who is a great role player but has never proven he can lead a team.
Terrific move, its just too bad it took so long. Now only if they can get rid of the bigger stiff — Gary Matthews Jr. — next…..
Dumb move. Carter has done a decent job thus far, but come on. He’s a organizational depth guy with some tools on a hot streak. I hope I am arong and somehow he manages to stay above-average all season long for the Mets. I really do, but how much would you be willing to bet on that? He’s gotten a lot of chances in different organizations already. I hate this for the Mets fanbase because it gives them a false sense of what to expect from this guy. The hype machine has already started.
That being said, from a Mets perspective, it’s not like they’re giving up a ton for him. Statistically they had to cut bait on Cat, but then again, I don’t think Catalanotto ever got a good enough string of starts to settle in. He never had a chance. I bet he gets onto a AL team like the Ms, Royals, or Orioles who have struggling offenses.
Catalanotto was absolutely abominable. Carter cannot be any worse.
Carter spent 5 seasons at AAA, hitting .303/.373/.499/.873
It certaintly doesn’t look like it’s just a hot streak.
And all that he’s been rewarded with for it is 26 whopping plate appearances at the big league level. So it’s not like you can really call him a AAAA player because he’s never gotten a real chance in the big leagues.
We’ll see what he can do, but given that he’s hit everywhere else, there’s reason to think he can hit in the big leagues. And I don’t get this hype machine talk, he’s being brought in to be mainly a pinch hitter. Never heard of any extremely hyped pinch hitters before, we’ll be happy if he hits above the .160 we were getting from Catalanotto.
PS: Catalanotto sucks.
I honestly don’t see any reason to get excited about Carter being promoted since the Mets have nowhere to play him. RF, LF and 1b all appear to be taken by regular starters. So he’s a pinch hitter. Whoopee.
The Mets are easily one of the most poorly run, managed and constructed teams in MLB. The money they get from being in NYC and having their own network doesn’t mask the ineptitude of the organization.
This move hardly matters. It’s not the one that tips the balance in any direction. Carter should have been starting at 1b when Murphy, who had no business being handed 1b, was injured.
The Mets can’t get out of their own way and I agree it has less to do with Omar (since he’s a puppet now) and more to do with ownership and some of the worst franchise players in the game.
Wright, Beltran and Reyes are all teases. They will never be what you think can they be and the minute you trade one of them from NY, they’ll become everything you wished they can be.
They are mentally weak franchise players on a mentally weak franchise.
Wright, Reyes, and Beltran are teases and mentally weak??? My god, you’re just dumb and wrong.
I’m not sure if you noticed or not, but Jeff Francoeur sucks at the game of baseball.
He sucks really bad.
Calling him a ‘regular starter’ is a disservice to all actual legitimate quality MLB starting RF’ers.
Also you’re an idiot.
Jose Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Beltran were almost the only reasons the Mets were contenders for all these years. Omar Minaya has been completely inept at actually getting quality MLB players around these guys. Now these guys have had injury problems of late, and the entire team falls apart.
Francoeur has actually been a pretty good player this year. He’s taking pitches and playing good defense. If it continues, then he’s worth the starting job. His average won’t stay where it is now.
Wright and Beltran have been good from what I’ve seen, but Reyes doesn’t nearly resemble a “team” or a “franchise” player. Remember when all of the Mets decided to shave their heads, but he refused? It was also due to his laziness and stupidity that he wasn’t able to return from injury last season. Reyes is the definition of selfish.
You have no idea what youre talking about. He rushes back and people call him selfish or he takes his time and people call him selfish. Ike Davis is smiling so people call him a happy player who just enjoys the game, but Reyes is a showboat. Cora scowls and people call him gritty, when Reyes wasn’t celebrating in 07 people were saying he doesn’t enjoy the game. It’s never ending with this guy.
He was one of the best SS from 06-08 in all of baseball with 06/08 being unbelievable years. Then he tears a damn hamstring and people think he is lazy. Go and TEAR a hamstring and see how easy it is to come back. It’s posts like this why people absolutely HATE met fans. When Coletti bashed Kemp a few weeks ago dodgers fans had his back because they realize how good of a player he is, last year Omar bashes Jose and David and Met fans just agree. It’s outrageous. Every other team in baseball would take Reyes if they could have him, but Met fans would rather have Cora grounding out to 2B every AB playing SS because he has “hustle” or some other indescribable attribute that makes zzero sense.
Rushes back? haha…I have no idea how you could ever say that. He never even came back, so it makes 0 sense anyway.
It’s “never ending” with Reyes because everyone knows he’s a lazy underachiever that values himself before the team. He’s not even close to his true potential right now. He’s had great years, but he still hasn’t posted an OPS above .850, and I know he has the given ability to do that. Not a single person based a decision on him being lazy and selfish solely on a hamstring industry. I saw Vernon Wells play through a bad wrist the whole season without spending a day on the DL. His team wasn’t even in the race. If he can do that, Reyes can at least come back to play in September. But as shown by many instances he is selfish and just isn’t dedicated to helping the team. (you can read this: bleacherreport.com/articles/33727-new-york-mets-ss…)
I’m also not a Met fan, way to jump to conclusions
I’m having an X-Files moment
Given Carter’s numbers in AAA, I don’t see how anyone in their right mind can think it’s not an improvement on 36 year old Catalanotto. To say that DW, Reyes and Beltran are weak is just plain stupid. I agree that the franchise has done a terrible job at building a solid team around these guys, i.e. GMJ – holy god get him out of there.
All that having been said, would it be a good idea to get Reyes to accept that he’s not a power hitter and that if he doesn’t get on base, his speed is of no use to the team (other than to see how fast he can get back to the dugout after he flies out)? Absolutely. Would it be nice to see DW actually relaxed at the plate again instead of looking like the kid that was picked last for the team and doesn’t even want to be there every time he gets up there? Yeah, that would be great since we’ve seen what he can do when he’s on.
These guys have the ability and bringing up Carter is a move in the right direction. Pitching is where these guys have to make some changes. J. Mejia – this kid could be a starter in a few years. Send him back down instead of wasting his talent in the bullpen. Perez – talk about a guy who will never be what you think he can be. Jerry can believe in him all he wants but wishing ain’t gonna make this guy a reliable starter. I would be happy to see Roy Oswalt in a Mets uniform heading into August.
Pretty much sound like mentally weak franchise players to me. Reyes doesn’t play to his strength’s. Wright thinks he has to hit 40 HR’s in every at bat. Beltran never inspired the fanbase or the team very much either.
It’s a bad mix of players. If it weren’t, they’d win and the franchise guys who didn’t get injured wouldn’t fall apart in season as much as they have.
When your best players can’t be consistent, it sets a tone for the team. You just hope this doesn’t rub off on Ike Davis or any of the other young promising guys who may come up.
If the Mets were mentally strong, they would gut their way through this stuff instead of turning slumps into landslides.
You have no idea of what you’re talking about
There are too many discussions going on and I don’t know which one to jump into! Mets fans are so divided on their team.
It is past time for Chris Carter to get a shot. He works his butt off, he has the numbers to justify a chance to play in the bigs. Hopefully he can provide a spark off the bench and push Frenchy a little bit. If he hits it’ll be interesting to see what the Mets do with Daniel Murphy.
If they can stay above water (or better?) until Beltran returns then they have some pieces to trade and fill some holes. Congrats to Carter, long overdue. Make us proud.
frenchy is the last player that needs pushing…what he needs is PATIENCE…hopefully Carter joining the team will inspire more time in the cage for those on the fringe ( Tatis, Frenchy, GMJ )
Congrats to Chris Carter…2 run go-ahead double in the 8th inning in his pinch-hitting debut..
In defense of Catalanotto its pretty hard to get going with 1 bat a game here and their and in a new league to boot.The guy can play 1st 2nd left & right field if Manual had half a brain he would have rested one of his players 1 game here and their and played Cat to get him going. I guess he didn’t fit in with the make up of the team
good point.
unfortunately Manuel is managing every game like its game 7 of the WS.
hence why he was able to convince the Wilpons ( over Omar’s head ) that Mejia can start this year in the pen.
( although I must admit, K-Rod looks grossly over-priced right now and Mejia as a closer could save us 14Mil )
I still say I’d rather groom Mejia to be a SP and develop a better set of off-speed pitches…worst case scenario, if he doesnt work out as a SP, he goes into a closer role with a great FB, great cutter, good curveball and hopefully a developed changeup.
But Jerry is not thinking past this year and Jeff isnt this thinking past this week..and of course Mejia wants to be on the MLB roster as this starts his arbitration clock earlier.
good point.
unfortunately Manuel is managing every game like its game 7 of the WS.
hence why he was able to convince the Wilpons ( over Omar’s head ) that Mejia can start this year in the pen.
( although I must admit, K-Rod looks grossly over-priced right now and Mejia as a closer could save us 14Mil )
I still say I’d rather groom Mejia to be a SP and develop a better set of off-speed pitches…worst case scenario, if he doesnt work out as a SP, he goes into a closer role with a great FB, great cutter, good curveball and hopefully a developed changeup.
But Jerry is not thinking past this year and Jeff isnt this thinking past this week..and of course Mejia wants to be on the MLB roster as this starts his arbitration clock earlier.
Catalanotto never got a chance to settle in,plays 1b,2b,of if Manual had half a brain he would have gotten him in a game here and their to get some at bats.Their is no Met tearing up the league.I dont think Manual even knew that he could play any position then outfield.I guess Catalanotto talked the wrong language to be a Los Met
Catalanotto never got a chance to settle in,plays 1b,2b,of if Manual had half a brain he would have gotten him in a game here and their to get some at bats.Their is no Met tearing up the league.I dont think Manual even knew that he could play any position then outfield.I guess Catalanotto talked the wrong language to be a Los Met
Catalanotto never got a chance to settle in,plays 1b,2b,of if Manual had half a brain he would have gotten him in a game here and their to get some at bats.Their is no Met tearing up the league.I dont think Manual even knew that he could play any position then outfield.I guess Catalanotto talked the wrong language to be a Los Met
Catalanotto never got a chance to settle in,plays 1b,2b,of if Manual had half a brain he would have gotten him in a game here and their to get some at bats.Their is no Met tearing up the league.I dont think Manual even knew that he could play any position then outfield.I guess Catalanotto talked the wrong language to be a Los Met