Paul Byrd, Chris Carter And The Yankees

Joel Sherman, Post:

One reason the Yankees put in a claim for Chris Carter was because of Paul Byrd. Stick with us here.

Byrd spent most of this season as a free agent and the Yankees were negotiating with him around midseason to bring him in as rotation insurance, a source told The Post. The Yanks were told by Byrd that they were his first choice, the source said. However, the Yanks refused Byrd's request to be assured of a Sept. 1 promotion.

So Byrd signed earlier this month with the Red Sox.

When the Yanks learned that Carter was one of the players that was going to the Mets in the Billy Wagner deal, they claimed Carter him on waivers and forced Boston to pull the outfielder/first baseman back. One reason was they assumed Boston had to make the same deal with Byrd -- to bring him up on Sept. 1 -- that the Yanks refused. So that meant Byrd has to be put on the 40-man roster. So the Yanks figured they could cause some 40-man roster havoc for their main nemesis by forcing Carter back on the 40-man, as well, at a time when Wagner, too, had to be added and Daisuke Matsuzaka is close to coming back from the 60-day DL.

The Yankees were apparently so broken up over losing Byrd to the Red Sox -- even though they refused to agree to Byrd's request and so have no real beef if Byrd decided to play for someone else -- that they decided to act in such a way that doesn't harm the Red Sox much at all, but totally screws over Carter, an almost 27-year-old minor leaguer, preventing him from having any September playing time with the Mets. So classy.