Phillies claim Carrera, designate Inciarte
After one game, the Phillies roster has undergone change. They claimed outfielder Ezequiel Carrera off waivers from Cleveland and designated outfielder Ender Inciarte for assignment Tuesday.
Phillies claim Carrera, designate Inciarte
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
ATLANTA — After one game, the Phillies roster has undergone change.
They claimed outfielder Ezequiel Carrera off waivers from Cleveland and designated outfielder Ender Inciarte for assignment Tuesday. The move is a shuffle of fifth outfielders. With a hole in right field and no particularly good answer for at least a month, Carrera could stand to gain playing time.
The 25-year-old Venezuelan led the majors with 11 stolen bases this spring. He has 116 games of major-league experience, all with the Indians, and a career .653 OPS. Of those 116 games, 88 were starts.
Carrera, a lefthanded hitter, was out of options and designated for assignment March 25 by Cleveland. Earlier in the spring, Indians manager Terry Francona said, "His speed impacts the game."
He can play all three outfield positions, with the majority of his time coming in center field. Carrera was originally signed by the New York Mets from Venezuela.
Charlie Manuel started John Mayberry Jr. in right field Monday. He said he has no problem platooning Mayberry and Laynce Nix until Delmon Young's return from ankle surgery. Young was scheduled to play the outfield for three innings in an extended spring training game Tuesday.
But Young's addition to the roster is not imminent and the team is not enamored of Mayberry nor Nix. In an ideal world, one of them swings a hot bat and earns the majority of at-bats. If not, Carrera enters the equation.
Inciarte, 22, did not appear in Monday's season opener. As a Rule 5 pick, the Phillies were required to keep him on the active roster for all of 2013. It was a challenge, considering he had never played a game above single A. The Phillies could have attempted to trade for his rights with Arizona.
If a team claims Inciarte off waivers, they must follow the same Rule 5 stipulations. If he clears waivers, the Diamondbacks recover his rights. The Phillies will receive $25,000 in exchange.
Carrera will be in uniform Wednesday, the Phillies said.
EXTRA BASES. Chase Utley became the 13th second baseman in history with 200 home runs. The others: Jeff Kent, Rogers Hornsby, Craig Biggio, Ryne Sandberg, Joe Morgan, Joe Gordon, Bret Boone, Lou Whitaker, Bobby Grich, Bobby Doerr, Dan Uggla and Roberto Alomar. ... Monday's game achieved the highest opening-day rating on PHL17 in the last 17 years. It averaged an 11.5 household rating and was the No. 1 program in the Philadelphia market. ... Mike Schmidt, George Brett and comedian Joe Piscopo will throw the ceremonial first pitches prior to Friday's home opener at Citizens Bank Park vs. Kansas City.
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.
Yo, welome to the Philly Speedway...— rex nemorensis- Yeah I've just about lost faith in this front office.
Last nights game was the most watched season opener in 17 years. Nearly 400,000 households tuned in(It wll take SD about 40 games to get to 400,000 TV viewers) the fans want to support the Phillies but Rube,Proefrock and the Gang are making it so hard.
I just cant believe with the support the fanbase has given the Phils in the past 5-6 years that ownership couldn't demand a better outfield, an outfield that could compete in the very tough NL East.
— argonne - Enough with Mayberry already.
- Shocker that Inciarte is gone ... Just a couple days ago, he was being mentioned as a bright spot for Phillies future ... LOL
— Copper34 - Trade Mayberry & Nix.— thomdee
- And you would expect to get...? — JBP
- A bag of donuts.
— Professor1982 - Would you really ask for that much? Donuts went up in price. — justacarpenter
- They better be Krispy Kreme. — rwolffd12
- Interesting. Another Left-handed hitting OFer, as is Brown, as is Nix. Can play CF, where only Mayberry is the back-up. Does not play 1B, where Nix can, and Mayberry also can.
Delmon Young actually playing the OF in a game in Clearwater today... Is he ahead of schedule?
Does this mean something for Nix? Does this mean something for Mayberry?— ExiledinFla - Like this a lot better than most of the other slop I saw DFA'd in the last week. Here is some info from BA:
Organizational Rankings [-]
Ranked Seattle Mariners #15 prospect after the 2009 season Premium
Organization Best Tools [-]
Rated Best Strike Zone Discipline in the Seattle Mariners system after the 2009 season
Rated Fastest Baserunner in the Seattle Mariners system after the 2009 season
Rated Best Defensive OF in the Cleveland Indians system after the 2010 season
League Best Tools [-]
Rated Best Defensive OF in the Florida State League in 2008
Rated Best Baserunner in the International League in 2011
Rated Best Defensive OF in the International League in 2011
Basically he's Inciarte in a few years. Still young, still fast, great D, improving at the plate, what's not to like?— tripleplay83 - Reality Check- he was not good enough for the Cleveland Indians...case closed. — rwolffd12
- what does it say about this season and where this team stacks up with the rest of the league that the GM was willing to do this that quick with Inciarte and never did it at all with standouts such as Michael Martinez or David Herndon?
To think that Martinez parlayed his Rule 5 selection into not one but two seasons with the big club, and despite hitting an amazing .100 for most of the season in 2012, remains in contention to find his way to the ML again in 2013.
What drives the Twin Pillars of Stupidity, Amaro and Manuel, to make decisions such as that? Is it simply because they like him, like the kind of kid he is, like his smile? Can it be anything else?— advantasux - Martinez was an infield backup, genius. There wasn't much else available, with Utley out. No one expected Martinez to take over a position. — mike l
- "no one expected Martinez to take over a position". What a funny thing to write on behalf of your hero Amaro. Whether it was "expected" or not, there he was, starting in Chase's place for weeks until Chase's return and then, when most of us figured we had seen the last of him, he returned and started once or twice per week from that point forward.
This was all in 2012, of course. 2011 is the season where the GM looked in every direction possible for roster moves but never found the cause (or the smarts) to dismiss his little boy from the team.
And, @Mike I, how pathetic you must be to find my post to be offensive to the point where you're mounting a defense on behalf of a true little leaguer, Michael Martinez, and the team's little league GM, Ruben Amaro. Dude, get a life!
— advantasux
