Yankees Sign NL Home Run Champion For $3 Million

Wingack

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I think this shows three things.

1. The team isn't in love with Austin, though they could move him around the field with a little first, DH, third and OF.
2. Bird isn't totally healthy.
3. This is purely a roll of the dice that they will be able to trade him, as with Matt Holliday, for a halfway decent prospect to a team that is in the hunt and needs some punch.
 

jon abbey

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Isn't Pedro Alvarez still out there? He seems like a better fit even if Bird is lefty, Holliday is righty. I need to read more about this, I just woke up.

And yeah, this is Tyler Austin's roster spot. Sorry, dude.
 

TheYellowDart5

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Isn't Pedro Alvarez still out there? He seems like a better fit even if Bird is lefty, Holliday is righty. I need to read more about this, I just woke up.

And yeah, this is Tyler Austin's roster spot. Sorry, dude.
Alvarez only really makes sense if you want him to platoon with Holliday; he can't play the field at all.

Carter is really nothing but home runs; he's an awful defender and base runner and can't make contact otherwise to save his life. He had the same wRC+ as Wilmer Flores last year. That said, Austin and Refsnyder and the like aren't particularly good anyway, so you're not hurting development too badly, and if Carter stinks, he's easily removable.
 

jon abbey

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Yeah, the only real difference I'm seeing between Carter and Alvarez is handedness, both are guys who you'd prefer to only DH, but maybe they feel more comfortable with Carter if Bird gets hurt.
 

jon abbey

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Also it's interesting to note how NY continues to get more righthanded, a reaction by Cashman to the shifts in recent years against LH pull hitters.
 

jon abbey

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Carter's 2016 HRs overlaid on Yankee Stadium, he's not going to get any cheapies to RF but almost none are being taken away at least:

 

jon abbey

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Also, wondering what the corresponding 40 man roster move is, maybe time to trade Refsnyder for someone who doesn't need to go on the 40 man yet, otherwise I think it has to be a pitcher, maybe Barbato.
 

jon abbey

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This reeks of a guy coming in and hitting .315/520/610 with 20 HRs before the trade deadline.
He's not going to be playing fulltime unless something is wrong with Bird or Holliday, but both of those guys have health question marks, so a backup upgrade at the least.
 

Savin Hillbilly

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The wrong side of the bridge....
Isn't 3 million $ chump change nowadays? Where's the risk for nyy?
Yes. I thought the point of the headline was what a ridiculous bargain the deal looks like if all you know is that he's the HR champ.

Seems like a solid move for NY--not much downside other than roster opportunity cost, and could pay off in a couple of different ways depending on how their season goes.
 

hbk72777

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You can't even get a decent middle reliever for 3 mil these days.

Twitter is on fire with fans from Colorado, Tampa Bay etc saying "Why didn't our team sign him if he was this cheap?"
 

jon abbey

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You can't even get a decent middle reliever for 3 mil these days.

Twitter is on fire with fans from Colorado, Tampa Bay etc saying "Why didn't our team sign him if he was this cheap?"
Yeah, Joel Sherman wrote (what I thought was) a crazy column yesterday about the Yankees budget keeping them from bidding on guys like Sergio Romo. People still don't seem to understand how big a deal roster flexibility is, and how many ready or close-to-ready pitchers NY has that they need to start testing at the big league level. 1B/DH isn't a position where NY has much depth at the top levels of the minors, so this seems to make sense.
 

strek1

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Watch out for those "Projected Ball Landing" Charts from previous seasons. They did this with AGON at Fenway and it looked like he was going to be the next Babe Ruth.
 

jon abbey

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FWIW, Carter has been absolutely awful against the Red Sox lefty trio of Sale/Price/Pomeranz, 5 for 42 combined with one solo HR.
 

foulkehampshire

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Watch out for those "Projected Ball Landing" Charts from previous seasons. They did this with AGON at Fenway and it looked like he was going to be the next Babe Ruth.
To be fair, there were other factors at play. Like a shoulder injury that basically robbed his prodigious opposite field power....which made those charts so damn sexy.
 

Savin Hillbilly

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The wrong side of the bridge....
To be fair, there were other factors at play. Like a shoulder injury that basically robbed his prodigious opposite field power....which made those charts so damn sexy.
Yes, although the other factor that some of us were failing to allow for in AGon's case was that major league pitchers and catchers might be sharp enough to figure out that pitching a given hitter exactly the same way in Fenway as in Petco is not strategically optimal.
 

jon abbey

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So this move certainly seems to push Austin back to AAA if everyone is healthy, but if any of Bird/Holliday/Carter/Judge get hurt, he should be the call-up, possibly Gardner/Ellsbury/Hicks too, although Mason Williams moves into the equation then also. That is a lot of guys to be backing up, so I'm sure he'll get his chances if he keeps hitting like he did in AAA last year (1.051 OPS in 234 PAs in a pitcher's park).
 

mauf

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Unfortunately, I think this is a bigger move for the MFY than most folks here do. At a minimum, Carter should be the weak half of a 1B platoon with Bird. Also, there's a decent chance he's a better hitter than 37-year old Matt Holliday, so he might end up DHing against RHPs at least some of the time, even if everyone's healthy. That's great value for short money and no long-term commitment.
 
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luckiestman

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I am still confused by this signing. Are there off the field issues? 3 million seems way too cheap even considering the warts on the stat sheet.
 

jon abbey

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I am still confused by this signing. Are there off the field issues? 3 million seems way too cheap even considering the warts on the stat sheet.
He wanted to stay in the US and no one else was interested, and NY is potentially a place with playing time, although it may take an injury from someone for him to be full time. Pedro Alvarez is just as good and is still out there, there are others, I think. Carter has been DFAd by two different teams (HOU/MIL) two seasons in a row now, there's not exactly a long line for his services.
 

jon abbey

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And no, as a matter of fact, I read specifically he is supposed to be a great clubhouse guy, FWIW.
 

Cesar Crespo

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I am still confused by this signing. Are there off the field issues? 3 million seems way too cheap even considering the warts on the stat sheet.
He's a .217/.303/.466 lifetime hitter against righties with a 34.3% strike out rate. He's a DH who can play 1b but really shouldn't. The warts are huge and that's his going price. There are a lot of 3 true outcome hitters nowadays. He struck out, hit a HR or walked in 50.2% of his PA. Of course Trumbo isn't much different and he got a 3 year deal.
 

jerry casale

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He has almost as many HRs and RBIs as Hanley.
If we traded straight up, we gain $15M and get someone who might play a position every now and then.
 

jon abbey

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He's been DFAd so you can have him in a few days for nothing if you like.