Humber in Spring Training with the Mets in 2005.
Sometimes it takes years to fully evaluate a trade. For example, the Mets won’t know exactly what they have in Zack Wheeler until 2013, his projected debut in the Major Leagues. Even then, he still may not round into form for a few years.
That’s the case with two former Mets prospects, Philip Humber and Mike Carp. Humber was part of the deal that brought Johan Santana to the Mets in 2008, and Carp was shipped to Seattle in the deal that made relievers J.J. Putz and Sean Green Metropolitans in 2009. In 2011, Humber and Carp are finally starting to enjoy some success in the Majors.
Philip Humber
The big right-hander has cooled off a bit after getting off to a hot start with the White Sox in 2011. He is 8-8 with a 3.67 ERA, and a 1.15 WHIP in 22 appearances (20 starts) for Chicago. He caught the attention of Mets fans with a 7-inning, no-run, one-hit performance against the Yankees in April. At age 28, he seems to be finding his comfort zone in the majors.
As a Met, he debuted in 2006 as a September call-up, and threw 2 innings in relief. In 2007, he was rushed into making a start in the midst of The Collapse, and performed about as poorly as the rest of the pitching staff that September.
So, while it seemed two years ago that the Mets pretty much got Johan Santana from the Twins for nothing (regarding the trade, not his contract), Humber, as well as Milwaukee’s Carlos Gomez, have made contributions as their careers have progressed. They aren’t superstars, but they have turned into solid major leaguers. The Mets still got the better of the deal, getting an ace pitcher who had 3 excellent years with the Mets before succumbing to a severe shoulder injury.
Mike Carp
Mike Carp as a B-Met.
Carp was a power-hitting first baseman in the Mets organization who made it as far as AA Binghamton before being traded to the Mariners. He spent 2+ years at AAA Tacoma pounding Pacific Coast League pitching, putting up an .818 OPS in 2009, and an .844 OPS in 2010 with 29 HRs. This year, he had already hit 21 HRs in 251 ABs for Tacoma before getting the call to the big club in June. In 140 ABs, he’s batting .329 with 6 HRs and a .915 OPS.
Meanwhile, Sean Green was a bust, and J.J. Putz spent his brief Mets tenure on the DL with an elbow injury that Omar Minaya knew about prior to the trade. Given the emergence of Ike Davis and Daniel Murphy, Carp wouldn’t have figured into the Mets 1B future, but he has played some outfield for Seattle this year. And since the Mets’ trainer’s room is currently more crowded than the locker room, you’d have to figure Carp would have been a contributor in New York this year. With those factors, 3 years later, the Mariners got the better of the trade.
With the success of Carp and Humber, the evaluation of those two trades are more complete, even though Carp is still at the dawn of his career, and the verdict is still out on Humber in the long run. But it goes to show that you can’t really reach a conclusion about a trade until years later, in many cases.
6 comments
Bryan
8/18/2011-7:36pm at 7:36 pm (UTC -4)
Also a part of the Carp trade was Ezequiel Carrera who is now the 4th outfielder for Manny Acta’s Cleveland Indians. If nothing else he could have given Angel Pagan competition in CF going forward if the Mets had kept him.
MetsFan4Decades
8/18/2011-9:38pm at 9:38 pm (UTC -4)
I remember many being pretty high on Mike Carp, until he was traded. Then I kept reading about he was not projected to be as high as first evaluated. Never made sense to me because he was still smack in the middle of his development.
You have to wonder – had we kept Mike Carp – where Ike Davis would have come into play. Given the fact that Ike had a mediocre or even poor first minor league season, would we have stuck with him with Carp in the system? Maybe we would have lost him in a trade?
Talk about a domino effect.
Anonymous
8/18/2011-10:33pm at 10:33 pm (UTC -4)
interesting about Humber. Nice to se, for his sake.
Some GMs have done quite well with mining for fallen first round talents (figuring there was a reason they were taken that high in the first place!). But, I guess, for every Jayson Werth you get a Lastings M.
Dean
8/19/2011-3:27am at 3:27 am (UTC -4)
Philip Humber could have been signed to a minor league contract by the Mets if they felt he could have come all the way back from the Tommy John surgery he had as a Mets farm hand. He was released by the Twins and later waived by the Royals and Athletics before catching on with the White Sox.
An interesting side note is that Humber was removed from a game with the Omaha Royals in June 2010 and with the White Sox in August 2011 after being struck in the face or head with line drives.
Anonymous
8/19/2011-2:32pm at 2:32 pm (UTC -4)
Did it really take 3 years to know that the trade with Seattle was a bust? Just sayin’, pretty much knew the second Putz hit the DL with the Mets. Plus losing side armer Joe Smith to Clevland as part of the 3 -way who’s putting up a nice year with the Indians as his career continues to blossom just an awful trade.
Paul J. Festa
8/19/2011-2:41pm at 2:41 pm (UTC -4)
True! Let’s call this the final nail in the coffin.