DJ was drafted in 1997 by the Baltimore Orioles. He was then a member of the Indians' system in 1998 and then a member of the Pirates between 1999 and 2002. He broke into the majors in 2003 with the Royals and stayed with them in 2005. The rest of his story will be revealed later.
The 34 year old Carrasco looks to fill a need in the bullpen as a right handed pitcher who's career really has been a tale of two different pitchers. In his first three major league seasons, he was a combination of a starter and a reliever (actually pretty much only a starter in 2005) and had a really average ERA. He then left in 2006 and pitched for Japan, followed by a year in the minors in 2007. 2008 started the second half of his career as when he came up he was a pretty good reliever. Since 2008, his numbers started to go down:
2008 – 1-0, 3.96 ERA, 38.2 IP, 14 BB, 30 K, 7.0 K/9, 2.14 K/BB
2009- 5-1, 3.76 ERA, 93.1 IP, 29 BB, 62 K, 6.0 K/9, 2.14 K/BB
2010- 3-2, 3.68 ERA, 78.1 IP, 34 BB, 65 K, 7.5 K/9, 1.91 K/BB
In 2008 he was with the White Sox, and was with them until January 2010, when he signed a contract with the Pirates. Then in December he signed a contract with the Mets.
DJ looks to be a critical new addition in the bullpen, since the entire bullpen seems to be a question mark anyway going into this season. He is also the member of a very small group players the Mets gave more than one year too. He looks to be a pretty solid pitcher as the last three years suggest, and fairly consistent as well. Since he has a two year deal, it is pretty safe to assume he has a spot in the bullpen going in, but once again, if he struggles out of the gate, there seems to be a good amount of pitchers behind him that are ready to step up.
he really is a good pitcher