After Wild Week, Carpenter Happy To Settle Down
BOSTON (CBS) – It has been a very busy few days for new Red Sox reliever Chris Carpenter.
"It's been a pretty hectic couple days," he said from the Red Sox locker room in Fort Myers on Friday, a day after arriving from the Chicago Cubs as compensation for Theo Epstein. "It's kind of nice coming in today, having a normal day and not have to worry about traveling, getting your physical done. It's nice to finally settle down."
Carpenter is slowly getting acclimated and is excited to join a team that has a chance to make some noise come October.
"I'm really excited. I know they have high expectations and I'm not coming in here trying to change anything," he said. "I want to hop on board and hopefully win a lot of games."
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For Carpenter, and the rest of the Cubs minor leaguers, the last month was a little nerve-wracking. They all knew something was bound to happen with the Epstein compensation at some point, and it could have been any of them heading to the Red Sox.
"We all knew something was going to happen. It was one of those things we talked about 'what if it's you.' You try not to think about it all the time," said Carter. "It was me and I'm here now; happy to be here."
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The 26-year-old righty described himself as a "power arm reliever" as the Boston media got to know him. A converted starter, he had some adjustments to make last season. He appeared in 10 games for Chicago, allowing three runs off 12 hits and striking out eight in 9.2 innings of relief. He said he struggled with his command early on, but felt a lot better as he got more used to his role in the bullpen.
"After I changed to the bullpen, it was one of those things I think it took me a little time to adjust to the reliever role. Looking back to last year, what hurt me was my first couple of months. Then I kind of adjusted to the roll the last couple months of the season."
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There is also the whole part of convincing people is not that Chris Carpenter, the one from Exeter, New Hampshire who is 114-92 over his 14-year career.
"I've heard it a lot. I just say hopefully one day I'll be half as good as that guy because he can really pitch," he said.
