Email a copy of 'This Date In Transactions History: Chris Carpenter' to a friend
Loading ...
By Zachary Links | at
Email a copy of 'This Date In Transactions History: Chris Carpenter' to a friend
MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com
hide arrows scroll to top
$22264602
Just kick us while we’re down eh MLBTR? Cold Hearted…
go_jays_go
GM JPR. Worst GM ever. Moneyball for the sake of being cheap does not work.
Easily set the Jays franchise back by 6 – 7 years.
He should have just sent Carpenter to go through the same rehab Halladay went through; Mel Queen style.
Ted
I won’t defend JP overall, but I cannot fault him for letting Carpenter walk. The guy was going to miss his age-28 season with major shoulder surgery and had thrown 870 innings of 4.83 ERA ball without showing signs of breaking out or improving his mediocre K/9, HR/9, or BB/9 numbers. Would you really, without hindsight, have offered him a multi-year deal?
go_jays_go
I would have offered him a 3yr/$3m deal + 2 options + incentives
Why?
1) Because he has a lot of untapped talent.
2) It’s not like the Cardinals offered Carpenter anything better.
3) Even after Carpenter won the Cy Young, he accepted a 2yr/$15m deal.
4) If he does come back from injuries, then you want to keep him for a few more years.
$3m in baseball terms is nothing. Blue Jays could have easily afforded it. If he doesn’t improve in 3 years, then dump him. I think this is the reason why the Blue Jays are so patient with McGowan.
This part is academic, but I would have offered Carpenter a deal like this:
Salary
2003: $0.5m. 2004: $1.0m, 2005: $1.0m, 2006: $5m, 2007: $5m
*2006 and 2007 are options with $0.5m buyouts
Incentives
– 180 innings pitched in 2005, options boosts in value OR
– with 320 innings pitched in 2004 – 2005, options boosts in value
– if achieved, options are boosted by $2m.
Ted
If that’s truly the case, then good for you. It would have been a heck of a move. I just… can’t help but be skeptical that you’d really have made the move in 2002. I mean, the guy stunk, and torn labrums aren’t in the same league as Tommy John surgery. I liked Carp, but I thought he was done.
Mike McLellan
Well said, Ted!
go_jays_go
Here’s the way I see it. If you believe in the guy, you do what you can to keep him. I guess Toronto didn’t feel the same way that I did back in 2002. And it’s not like Carp made more money with the Cardinals in those years.
Ted
It may also be relevant that in 2002, the Mike Sirotka injury was still very recent. Sirotka had just missed the entire 2001 season and faced retirement with a torn labrum, same as Carpenter, though Sirotka’s injury was more severe. It’s all history now… but that might have been a small factor leading the org to lose confidence Carpenter would be able to recover at all.
Jaysfan724
Exactly, it’s like Pirates fan cursing their GM for trading Jose Bautista for Robinson Diaz. Everything is so much easier to judge in hindsight.
I can only imagine how the many agitated Jays fans of today would have reacted if we gave someone with those numbers a multi-year contract. Many were even vocal with the McGowan deal.
johnsmith4
It certainly was a bad move. But, I can’t agree JPR was just being cheap. Toronto was losing $20 mil a year in operational losses. It had to be fixed or the franchise would have relocated. In my opinion, JPR’s biggest fault was contract negotiation. A good contract negotiator would have signed Carpenter.
go_jays_go
I remember a long time ago, I read an article that the Blue Jays were raking in $20m in revenue sharing, back when revenue sharing was still a new concept. I can’t guarantee the accuracy of my numbers though.
However, this is a much more recent article:
“But the five neediest teams — which we believe to be the Marlins, Pirates, Rays, Blue Jays and Royals — averaged somewhere in the vicinity of $35 million in revenue-sharing handouts per team.”
sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=sta…
johnsmith4
I don’t doubt it. However, I have been referencing operational incomes figures from Forbes write ups on baseball franchises. Interesting stuff.
soxfan123123
Dave Duncan at his finest!
Runtime
and THIS is why the Jays refuse to give up on McGowan.
$22264602
double post
$22264602
Small price to pay so we don’t run into another Carpenter situation. At least for the time being.
aemoreira81
That may be true in part…but Dustin McGowan really does have injury problems. Sometimes, things don’t work out; at the time, I can’t blame J.P. Riccardi for doing this.
LayerCake
Good read thanks Zach
astrostl
The surgery – which involved removing a rib – was supposed to take 6 months to recover, and it wasn’t clear that he’d be able to come back at all. He was pitching in the majors 2 months later, without any spring training.
Lanidrac
Yeah, Carpenter’s had a Pujols-like recovery these past couple of months.
Jonathan Washington
Chris Carpenter Finally Got His Mind Back On Track