The New York Yankees have agreed to a one year, $3 million contract with first baseman Chris Carter. The 30-year old will receive a $500K signing bonus and is eligible for $100K in incentives each time he reaches 250, 300, 350, 400, and 450 plate appearances.
Carter spent the 2016 season with the Milwaukee Brewers, finishing with 94 RBI and a league-leading 41 home runs. With supreme power like that on the open market, some were surprised that he was not scooped up faster by a power-starved team. However, the one way to justify Carter's market, or lack thereof, was the fact that he struck out 206 times (in 644 plate appearances) and hit a mere .222/.321/.499 in 160 games.
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| Carter led the NL in HR (41) in 2016 |
Carter has always been a "high-strikeout, high-power" type of player, and the Yankees have every reason to expect that to continue. It will be very interesting to see how they handle the five-team veteran, as they already have youngster Greg Bird and 37-year old Matt Holliday slated to man first base. Of-course, the Yankees will need a designated hitter, so it is safe to say that we will see Carter in that role at some point.
At first glance, one may see Carter as a player that smashes lefties, but that is not actually the case with the seven-year veteran. In his career, Carter has hit .221/.337/.459 against southpaws, and .217/.303/.466 with 105 of his 150 career home runs coming off of right-handed pitching.
So, what can we make of this? It appears that Carter is much more patient at the plate when squaring up against left-handers, as his on-base percentage is over 30 points higher than the other side. Also, his 13.1% walk ratio against left-handers is slightly better than the 11.4% ratio against right-handers, but this statistic has fluctuated quite a bit in Carter's MLB career. For some reason, Carter's power dramatically spikes when he faces right-handed pitching, and 2016 was no different, as 29 of his home runs came against right handers.
Overall, I think that this is an excellent signing by GM Brian Cashman and the Yankees. The team is getting themselves an elite power threat for under $4 million, and as we have seen, Yankee Stadium has proved to treat it's hitters very well. While his role remains unknown, I believe he will be the full-time designated hitter since his splits do not necessarily make him the ideal candidate to platoon with Greg Bird.
It is always interesting to see what kind of deals players get around this time of the year since desperation begins to set in with Spring Training right around the corner. The Yankees did a great job in waiting out the market for Carter, and should continue to use the same tactic to build their rotation depth.
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