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Q.  What are his stats in 2012?

A.  He's hitting .159/.229/.477, which is what has prevented Seattle from realizing that Carp is in the process of taking a big plateau leap forward as we watch.

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Q.  There you go.  We're waiting for his bat to warm up.  IF it's going to.

A.  Carp's BABIP is .107.

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Q.  Oh.

A.  He's hit 4 home runs in 44 AB's, once again on pace for 40+ dingers (I know, but) -- this despite the injury and the sporadic playing time and shaking the rust off.  This man can hit a mortal ton.

His shot in Coors Sunday had a "true" distance of 419 feet, was out of 30 parks, and had an apex of 120 feet ... meaning the pitcher threw it, Carp swung, and the ball would have cleared a 12-story building on its way out of the county.  Tommy Davis once told Gene Brabender that he could follow the flight of a ball pretty well until he lost it in a cloud.

Carp's four home runs, in his 2-plus weeks' worth of play:

• 436 feet
• 429 feet (and apex 115 feet)
• 419 feet
• 375 feet on a line

Carp has the power to hit cleanup on a good team.  By which we mean that he has a PX of 140, which is comparable to Teixeira's, Bruce's, and Pujols' (last year).

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Q.  How's his defense?

A.  UZR, amusingly, has his defense as +27 runs saved per 150 games.  In reality he's a real typical bat-first 25-year-old left fielder:  kind of dubious with the mitt.

Which is fine.  It's not like Josh Willingham, Jason Bay, Michael Morse or Raul Ibanez are in there for their ability to prevent runs with the leather.

There is a point at which you wouldn't want a 30-homer player in left field.  Mike Carp and that point are far, far apart.  Carp is a good fielder for a bad fielder.

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Q.  Why was it, again, this guy lost his place in line?

A.  He had like two bad games in Japan, he got hurt, and everybody forgot about everything he ever did.

It's okay.  If a man is truly a 35-homer offensive place, he's going to surface.  You can't stop him; you can only hope to contain you.

This is exactly the sort of thing that should make even bloggers, much less the pro's, ashamed of themselves, for abandoning a Mike Carp on a "what have you done for me lately" two weeks' term.  Either you judge a player to be worth your investment or you don't.  A smart and decisive plan on Mike Carp is:  Give him a year-plus.  See if those 50 minor-league homers are for real.

Actually Wedge did spend 2011 "seeing if Carp is for real" and Carp was for real, and then it became 2012 and .... well, let's not be hasty.  For all we know, Carp never lost his spot in the middle of the order with Wedge and Zduriencik.

Carp is the only Mariner to demonstrate legitimate 35+ homer power, and maybe you'd liked to have seen him tighten his strike zone.  He's doing even that.  As Earl Weaver said, "once every 15 at-bats this guy is doing a whale of a lot to win me a ball game."

You've got to commit to him.

BABVA,

Dr D