NEWSLETTER
The Cubs have made another minor signing – in the literal sense – this week, inking pitcher Andrew Carpenter to a minor league deal, with an invitation to Spring Training.
Carpenter, 27, is a big reliever who broke into the bigs with the Phillies as a 23-year-old back in 2008. From there, he never really got a chance to stick in the bigs before doing the wavier wire shuffle for the last couple years. In that regard, he is the consummate Spring Training invite, where he’ll compete for a bullpen spot.
Carpenter, a second round pick back in 2006, was a starter for most of his career in the minors. In that role, he was just OK, but in the last couple years, he has seemed to flourish in the bullpen (including a 2011 stint with Ryne Sandberg’s Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, in which he threw 60.1 innings with a 1.79 ERA, 0.978 WHIP, a 9.7 K/9 and a 1.6 BB/9. He was silly good. But, of course, he was a 26-year-old in AAA).
This is a fine minor league signing, one that comes with no risk, and you can expect some more like it before February rolls around.
