Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Moving David Carpenter from catcher to pitcher was Luhnow's idea

One of the closer candidates who will be getting some attention in Spring Training is David Carpenter, whom the Astros received in a trade for Pedro Feliz (pause for laughing). As I'm sure you recall, David Carpenter (whom we interviewed in October 2010) started out as a catcher, but was moved to pitcher in 2008, where he is obviously enjoying more success. It was all Jeff Luhnow's idea:

Carpenter:
They saw an opportunity for me to be a pitcher. Luhnow was really the one that pushed the idea and really had everybody going towards that.”

Carpenter, to AC in 2010:
Part of the reason was Yadi Molina had signed a big contract and none of the catchers below him were going to be moving anytime soon. They felt that it would be a good career move. The Cardinals had success with a friend of mine, Jason Motte, converting him from a catcher to a pitcher and we shared similar characteristics.