Is everyone sold on Carp at 1B?

[oldroundballer]

Count me as not really. Carp doesn't exactly have the best glove. He's not the smoothest guy in the field. I think I'd rather him go back to 3B full time. Use Adams, if he's still around, and J-Honey at 1B. And maybe even Jed some. I'd probably have more confidence in those gloves over there than Carp. I see Carp as sort of like Holliday was. I want him in the lineup but I don't want him to handle too many balls in the field.

Just some thoughts on a cool Thur morn. Have a good one.

 

[vbsideout]

Count me as not really. Carp doesn't exactly have the best glove. He's not the smoothest guy in the field. I think I'd rather him go back to 3B full time. Use Adams, if he's still around, and J-Honey at 1B. And maybe even Jed some. I'd probably have more confidence in those gloves over there than Carp. I see Carp as sort of like Holliday was. I want him in the lineup but I don't want him to handle too many balls in the field.

Just some thoughts on a cool Thur morn. Have a good one.

This is what kills me. MO says they have to improve the defense and then tells us he is going to get a CF. Moving Carp to 1st makes us worst than we would be if Adams was there. In his short time at first last year at least 2 or 3 pick off throws ended up in RF. Balls in dirt were not dug up. This infield defense is terrible and no mention of upgrading it. Defense defense defense yet no changes to one of the worst Cardinal infield defense in a decade or more. UHG

 

[Neutron Monster]

Guys, we are talking about Matt Adams. He is a bad defender. Almost anyone tall who can passably play 3B is going to be a better 1B than Adams is as long as they spend the offseason learning the position.

Further, I don't think Carp is an average 3B defensively. This probably makes us better defensively in the aggregate.

 

[Eagles_Ball]

Guys, we are talking about Matt Adams. He is a bad defender. Almost anyone tall who can passably play 3B is going to be a better 1B than Adams is as long as they spend the offseason learning the position.

Further, I don't think Carp is an average 3B defensively. This probably makes us better defensively in the aggregate.

I swear, that overweight split hitting dude has become the David Eckstein of this era for dudes on this board. It's unreal their opinion of him and his defensive prowess.

 

[vbsideout]

Guys, we are talking about Matt Adams. He is a bad defender. Almost anyone tall who can passably play 3B is going to be a better 1B than Adams is as long as they spend the offseason learning the position.

Further, I don't think Carp is an average 3B defensively. This probably makes us better defensively in the aggregate.

I just know that thinking that the same people who sucked last year on our infield are going to magically become better fielders this year is risky business. Wong was a bench/AAA player last year and now they are talking gold glove. Carp might be an average to solid 1st baseman. If Diaz plays SS every day he will miss lot's of time with a sore arm. 3rd base will be average at best I think that is being optimistic at best. Just hoping that the infield defense will be better with the same players doesn't excite me.

 

[Eagles_Ball]

I just know that thinking that the same people who sucked last year on our infield are going to magically become better fielders this year is risky business...Totally agree...Wong was a bench/AAA player last year and now they are talking gold glove...He was a bench player because of his slow start on offense. His defense is solid. Sure, he boots some balls hit right at him. But his range and arm are both extremely good for 2B. I can't remember a more capable 2B defender the Birds have had in the last 15 or so years. There probably is one, I just can't think of him...Carp might be an average to solid 1st baseman...He probably will be. It's not rocket science and he's more athletic than most there...If Diaz plays SS every day he will miss lot's of time with a sore arm...Maybe, maybe not. Heck, all five SPs could get hurt in ST. David Eckstein played there for years w/o much arm problem...other than having to crow hop to get it to 1B...3rd base will be average at best I think that is being optimistic at best...Agreed. I'm not sure I wouldn't rather have Gyorko there. I just don't think JHoney is an everyday player now...Just hoping that the infield defense will be better with the same players doesn't excite me.

 

[vbsideout]

Can someone explain to me why you would move a gold glove 2nd baseman to the OF?

 

[oldroundballer]

Pardon me for having a thought. Guess I'll quit wasting space on this board too.

Merry Christmas everyone.

 

[Duck_walk]

Pardon me for having a thought. Guess I'll quit wasting space on this board too.

Merry Christmas everyone.

I'm completely in agreement with your original post. No offense to Neutron and Eagle but speaking for VB and I, we are retired and we watch just about every freakin game. Maybe with time he can improve but Carp was not good at first base. His body language said "WHY AM I HERE?" when he played there. Maybe he can improve. I don't give a flying F what your BS numbers tell you he wasn't better than Adams at footwork and taking throws at first. That doesn't mean we think Adams is Keith Hernandez. So stop the condescending tone.

 

[wccards21]

I swear, that overweight split hitting dude has become the David Eckstein of this era for dudes on this board. It's unreal their opinion of him and his defensive prowess.

He's awful and I'm hopeful he's on your roster for another 10 years

 

[Duck_walk]

Carp will be better at any position if they will just let the man stay in one spot. when one of the members of your infield doesn't feel comfortable it affects the whole unit. Especially if you are playing a first baseman who doesn't really know how to position himself to take throws. There are no Sabremetrics numbers to measure what I just described, geniuses.

 

[vbsideout]

Carp will be better at any position if they will just let the man stay in one spot. when one of the members of your infield doesn't feel comfortable it affects the whole unit. Especially if you are playing a first baseman who doesn't really know how to position himself to take throws. There are no Sabremetrics numbers to measure what I just described, geniuses.

I agree Ducky. Seen Carp let 3 pick off throws go to right field and all 3 should have been caught. Small part of the reason people started taking liberties on Yadi.

 

[Neutron Monster]

Carp will be better at any position if they will just let the man stay in one spot. when one of the members of your infield doesn't feel comfortable it affects the whole unit. Especially if you are playing a first baseman who doesn't really know how to position himself to take throws. There are no Sabremetrics numbers to measure what I just described, geniuses.

Give the guy an offseason to learn the position. His ceiling is way higher than Adams, which is the point Eagles and I are making.

 

[Neutron Monster]

I swear, that overweight split hitting dude has become the David Eckstein of this era for dudes on this board. It's unreal their opinion of him and his defensive prowess.

Matt Adams is 1/2 of a great DH platoon for the 120 games a year he is healthy.

He's a bad 1B, though, and I'm not sure there is a single 3B in MLB who would be a worse 1B than him if they took an offseason to prepare to play the position.

 

[vbsideout]

Matt Adams is 1/2 of a great DH platoon for the 120 games a year he is healthy.

He's a bad 1B, though, and I'm not sure there is a single 3B in MLB who would be a worse 1B than him if they took an off season to prepare to play the position.

I agree Carp given an off season and spring to work on the position he will become adequate just as he did at 2b, but too many average defenders on the infield worries me. Looks like Fowler is close to signing with the Birds so I believe that is a plus.

 

[Eagles_Ball]

Give the guy an offseason to learn the position. His ceiling is way higher than Adams, which is the point Eagles and I are making.

Yes, this. He was slightly better than terrible with an offseason to play 2B. 1B isn't nearly as difficult. He'll be fine.

 

[vbsideout]

Matt Adams is 1/2 of a great DH platoon for the 120 games a year he is healthy.

He's a bad 1B, though, and I'm not sure there is a single 3B in MLB who would be a worse 1B than him if they took an offseason to prepare to play the position.

So here is my question. The Birds say they want to improve their defense, but really do nothing to improve the infield D. So why not Encarnicion.the best bat on the market and a #4 hitter that the Birds have been longing for. Would he be that much worst than Carp? Carp goes to 3rd and now you have a team who is going to score runs every night because you have a legit #4 hitter and don't rely on winning 10-2 one night and then scoring 2 runs a night the rest week. Encarnicion is a RBI machine and with all the OPS guys in front of him 120 RBIs would not be out of the question. If your not going to make changes to your infield defense then this makes sense. Bad D but much improved offense on a day to day basis. I don't want to hear how great their offense was last year. Scoring 8 to 10 runs in one game against the other teams 4 and 5s doesn't make you a great offense. Encarnicion will drive runs home against the opponents 1 and 2s Not my money!. If they are committed to defense then you sign Turner. To stand pat with the infielders they had last year and say your committed to getting better on defense doesn't make sense

 

[3Rfan]

So here is my question. The Birds say they want to improve their defense, but really do nothing to improve the infield D. So why not Encarnicion.the best bat on the market and a #4 hitter that the Birds have been longing for. Would he be that much worst than Carp? Carp goes to 3rd and now you have a team who is going to score runs every night because you have a legit #4 hitter and don't rely on winning 10-2 one night and then scoring 2 runs a night the rest week. Encarnicion is a RBI machine and with all the OPS guys in front of him 120 RBIs would not be out of the question. If your not going to make changes to your infield defense then this makes sense. Bad D but much improved offense on a day to day basis. I don't want to hear how great their offense was last year. Scoring 8 to 10 runs in one game against the other teams 4 and 5s doesn't make you a great offense. Encarnicion will drive runs home against the opponents 1 and 2s Not my money!. If they are committed to defense then you sign Turner. To stand pat with the infielders they had last year and say your committed to getting better on defense doesn't make sense

Or signing Fowler who is not a top tier CF guy and is a life time sub .270 hitter. How is that a good leadoff man or helping the defense up the middle?

 

[vbsideout]

Or signing Fowler who is not a top tier CF guy and is a life time sub .270 hitter. How is that a good leadoff man or helping the defense up the middle?

Life time sub has been a starter with the Cubs last 2 years and an All star last year. I think this was a good signing!

 

[Duck_walk]

Ignore batting average and look at onbase %. Fowler is one of the best in baseball, equal to Carp.

 

[3Rfan]

Ignore batting average and look at onbase %. Fowler is one of the best in baseball, equal to Carp.

He doesn't help the defense much, that was supposed to be their goal this off season. I have seen NO moves in that direction. I still have no idea why everybody is so against Carp in the leadoff spot. He does quite well there, better than any other place they have put him in the lineup.

 

[vbsideout]

He doesn't help the defense much, that was supposed to be their goal this off season. I have seen NO moves in that direction. I still have no idea why everybody is so against Carp in the leadoff spot. He does quite well there, better than any other place they have put him in the lineup.

If you don't think that an outfield of Grichy in left, Fowler in Center and Piscotti in Rf is not an upgrade over Moss and Holiday then we really have nothing to talk about. As for Carp taking his skills to the 2 or 3 spot that can only help the offense. Fowler gives you the same type of lead off guy that Carp was with more speed and allows Carp to be in position to drive in 100+ runs. Don't see how this can be anything but a plus for the Birds. Still need to sign Turner or Encarnicion.

 

[Eagles_Ball]

Still need to sign Turner or Encarnicion.

Exactly. Adding Fowler doesn't move the needle enough to give up the 1st round pick, IMHO. But adding a corner bat to go along with him, puts the Birds in a much better position to make a run at the Cubs and playoffs. If Fowler is the only get, I would have rather they stood pat and waited on the next FA class.

 

[3Rfan]

If you don't think that an outfield of Grichy in left, Fowler in Center and Piscotti in Rf is not an upgrade over Moss and Holiday then we really have nothing to talk about. As for Carp taking his skills to the 2 or 3 spot that can only help the offense. Fowler gives you the same type of lead off guy that Carp was with more speed and allows Carp to be in position to drive in 100+ runs. Don't see how this can be anything but a plus for the Birds. Still need to sign Turner or Encarnicion.

This is only true IF Carp performs in the 2 or 3 hole like he has in the leadoff spot. He hasn't proven that he will yet. I hope I'm very wrong and all that works out to another playoff run but, I don't see much improvement for the money spent on one guy. BTW I didn't say that OF wouldn't be better than Holliday or Moss in LF but that's not their only option. The #1 goal was supposed to be improving the defense up the middle. I haven't seen that happen yet and the guy we got is a career .260 something hitter. He had a good year with his OBP but Carp has had several of those in his career in the leadoff spot. Moving him to 1st doesn't look any help for the defense other. Why didn't they go get a big bat 1st baseman that is actually a 1st baseman?

 

[vbsideout]

This is only true IF Carp performs in the 2 or 3 hole like he has in the leadoff spot. He hasn't proven that he will yet. I hope I'm very wrong and all that works out to another playoff run but, I don't see much improvement for the money spent on one guy. BTW I didn't say that OF wouldn't be better than Holliday or Moss in LF but that's not their only option. The #1 goal was supposed to be improving the defense up the middle. I haven't seen that happen yet and the guy we got is a career .260 something hitter. He had a good year with his OBP but Carp has had several of those in his career in the leadoff spot. Moving him to 1st doesn't look any help for the defense other. Why didn't they go get a big bat 1st baseman that is actually a 1st baseman?

I'm not worried about him batting 3rd as much as I am him playing 1st. We will just have to agree to disagree when talking about Fowler. I think he is a real upgrade and you don't so I guess time will tell. .

 

[Eagles_Ball]

I'm not worried about him batting 3rd as much as I am him playing 1st. We will just have to agree to disagree when talking about Fowler. I think he is a real upgrade and you don't so I guess time will tell. .

Fowler in CF and Grichuk in LF is better defensively than Grichuk in CF and any combination of Pham/Gracia/Fernandez combo in LF. But truthfully, I'd think the main defensive concern would be IF with this ground ball staff.

 

[vbsideout]

Fowler in CF and Grichuk in LF is better defensively than Grichuk in CF and any combination of Pham/Gracia/Fernandez combo in LF. But truthfully, I'd think the main defensive concern would be IF with this ground ball staff.

I agree and I don't see how moving Carp to 1st helps this problem in any way. Put Carp back on 3rd and sign Encarnicion and the hell with defense if Carp at 1st is your idea of an improved infield defense.

 

[Eagles_Ball]

I agree and I don't see how moving Carp to 1st helps this problem in any way. Put Carp back on 3rd and sign Encarnicion and the hell with defense if Carp at 1st is your idea of an improved infield defense.

Carp would probably be better at 1B (as compared to league average) than at any other IF spot. It's the easiest to play and learn. But I totally agree, if you sign Encarnacion it just doesn't matter. Put Carp at 3B and mash.

 

[Neutron Monster]

Fowler in CF and Grichuk in LF is better defensively than Grichuk in CF and any combination of Pham/Gracia/Fernandez combo in LF. But truthfully, I'd think the main defensive concern would be IF with this ground ball staff.

You need Diaz and Wong to be league average for this to work. 1B is just not as meaningful as this.