Chris Carter is Not the Answer To the Mets' Problems

Flushing Baseball Daily

Apr 15, 2010

Chris Carter continued his good start this year with a huge night for the Mets’ Triple-A Buffalo squad yesterday afternoon, going 4-for-4 just a home run away from a cycle.

His big day coming at the same time as the Mets continue to struggle has caused many fans and some members of the media to demand that the 27-year-old be called up from the minors.

Why is such a talented young player being wasted in the minors when he could be helping the Mets now? They have a valid point, Carter should be in the majors. He has put in his time in the minors and is ready for the majors, what more are they waiting for?

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I don’t have the answer to that. He should be in the majors. The problem is, even if they called him up, he’s not going to solve any issues here at the major league level.

See as good as Carter is, his career line in the minors is .306/.380/.510/.890, he doesn’t fill any of the Mets’ needs. He plays first and bats left handed, but so does Mike Jacobs . He might be an upgrade over Jacobs, but he might not be.

Minor league numbers don’t always translate neatly to the major leagues. Plus, at 27-years-old he is older than a lot of the competition he is facing which doesn’t mean outright that he is going to fail or struggle, but it does cast enough doubt that he is not a clear cut upgrade over Jacobs.

He can also play in the outfield, but he’s definitely more of a corner outfield and in case fans have forgotten Jason Bay is going no where and Jeff Francoeur has been one of the few bright spots on this team. So unless there is an injury, Carter can pretty much be ruled out as an outfielder in Flushing.

So if he is called up, it’ll strictly be as a first baseman which is probably the reason why he hasn’t been called up yet. In time, the Mets may decide to replace Jacobs at first base with him, but that obviously isn’t going to happen immediately.

And again, even if he is better than Jacobs he certainly isn’t going to be so much better that he would single-handedly be able to turn the team’s offense around. Right now the Mets seem content with using Jacobs at first base. This isn’t a long-term solution, but Carter wouldn’t be either. Not with Ike Davis behind him.

Should he be up in the majors? Absolutely, even a slight upgrade at first would be a help, but the Mets problem, at least offensively, lies in the depth, or lack of depth, in their lineup.

Making a slight upgrade at first base is not going to help a team that is regularly running out a bad center fielder, a light hitting catcher, and has trouble getting any consistency out of their middle infielders.

So if or when he is called up, it will be good news, but don’t expect this team to all of a sudden turn it around.