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If GMZ had not signed Raul, he could have kept both Carp & Smoak. In my view, the mistake made by GMZ was to sign Raul to a multi-million dollar contract, which immediately made Carp superfluous, independent of Smoak's progression/regression. When GMZ makes a move that I don't grok initially, I endeaver to look at the deal from all angles until I gain an understanding of GMZ's motives/process. Applying that prcess to the Raul signing, the only rationale that I can come up with is that GMZ is fully convinced that Carp will never pan out. If GMZ is wrong, and Carp turns out to be a solid major league contributor, GMZ has, in my opinion, made a significant mistake, regardless of what happens to Smoak.