Minors: Brett Harper is with the Giants
Minor league free-agent 1B Brett Harper was invited to spring training by the Giants.
…from what i can gather, the Mets made an effort to bring harper back in to the fold, but the player chose to pursue other options, such as the Giants, who do not have Mike Carp and Carlos Delgado in the organization…i can’t say that i blame him…it’s a shame, though, he would have been a nice guy to have in the system during the next year or so…
The 26–year-old Harper was picked by the Mets in the 45th Round of the 2000 amateur draft, but missed nearly all of 2006 with a back injury.
In 131 games for Double-A Binghamton last season, Harper bounced back to hit .296 with 24 HR and 88 RBI, while striking out 119 times in 476 at-bats.
In a report for MiLB.com, Jonathan Mayo listed Harper as the Mets minor-league position player of the year.
…i sent MILB.com’s Jonathan Mayo an e-mail asking him about harper, and whether i should care that he’s with the Giants now, to which mayo told me…
“While no one should lose sleep over this loss, it is a little curious why the Mets didn’t bring him back. Maybe they tried and he felt he had a better chance to make it to the bigs with the Giants, given their weak 1B options. But all the Giants did was give him an invite to big-league camp. I hope the Mets had offered the same and Harper just decided the grass would be greener by the Bay…
“
I know Harper will turn 27 in late July, but keep in mind that he missed pretty much all of the 2006 season. Take his last two healthy years – ’07 and ’05 – and he hit a combined 60 homers in them…
“Will he ever be anything? Maybe not, but it might have been nice to have that kind of pop sitting in Triple-A in case Delgado falls apart.”
On March 1, Mayo, who is a Senior Writer for MLB.com, will release Facing Clemens, “A book that puts you right in the batter’s box against the The Rocket.”
For more, check out JonathanMayo.net.
