The Brewers have decided to non-tender power-hitting first baseman Chris Carter, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link). MLBTR had projected Carter to earn $8.1MM in arbitration.
Carter, 29, signed on with Milwaukee after he was non-tendered last winter by the Astros, agreeing to a one-year, $2.5MM pact. He rewarded the club with a .222/.321/.499 batting line and a league-leading 41 home runs over 644 plate appearances.
It’s certainly somewhat unusual to see a forty-homer bat set loose despite ongoing control. In fact, Carter has another year of arb eligibility beyond 2017. But it isn’t as if his prodigious power output came as a surprise; he swatted 37 dingers back in 2014.
The trouble with Carter is that he has never managed to reach base consistently. He also led the National League with 206 strikeouts last year. Then there’s the fact that he’s rather limited in the field. Carter’s days in the outfield are probably numbered, and he drew negative metrics last year at first.
MLBTR’s Charlie Wilmoth recently broke down the arbitration decision facing the Brewers, explaining that it was a tougher call than it seemed at first glance. While more than three quarters of MLBTR readers who participated in a poll felt Carter should be tendered, that wasn’t the course pursued by Milwaukee GM David Stearns.
All signs point to a move back to the American League, where Carter can spend time at DH while perhaps occasionally stepping in at first. Beyond the pure home run output, he has managed to maintain a lifetime 112 OPS+, even if it comes with a cringe-worthy batting average (.218) and OBP (.314). Carter owns a career 33.1% strikeout rate, and that probably won’t change, though he has managed to draw walks at a solid 11.6% clip. And it’s worth noting, too, that he has not traditionally carried very pronounced platoon splits.
[RELATED: Brewers Depth Chart]
Milwaukee, it seems, decided against committing that much cash to a one-dimensional player who would’ve been forced onto the field. The team isn’t exactly bristling with replacement options. The Brewers just claimed and then designated Adam Walker — a younger, cheaper player who carries Carter’s general profile at the plate — and could perhaps give him a chance if he clears waivers. Prospect Jacob Nottingham could also get a look, though perhaps the odds are that the rebuilding club will end up looking outside the organization to fill its needs at first base for 2017.
The Brewers surely would’ve preferred to find a trade partner for Carter, but his salary was likely a deterrent. And the open market is full of power options this winter, with players like Mike Napoli, Brandon Moss, Carlos Beltran, Matt Holliday, Pedro Alvarez, and Steve Pearce all expected to be available for one or two-year commitments.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
what the hell
What? Carter sucks
Nice to see teams understand that home run power alone doesn’t equal value.
Slugging .499 with paltry OBP numbers is pretty impressive. It’s not like he was in their long term plans but I’m guessing they try to bring him back. His arb projection definitely makes him too high of a cost.
If they bring him back, he seems like a trade deadline guy.
He’ll be a good DH
Whoa … Didn’t they just cut the first baseman they claimed on waivers last week? Like, earlier today?
What the heck, Brewers?
Yeah but Walker isn’t gonna be a Major Leaguer soon anyways.
Back to the Red Sox?
Wrong Chris Carter.
Back to writing episodes of the X-Files?
Back to the Eagles?
could’ve used him as a good trade chip
Since when are 1B with .321 OBP and .9 WAR good trade chips?
I can think of a lot of teams that would drop some serious prospects for 41 home runs at an affordable $8.5m proj.
What is wrong with people? MLB salaries are out of control. How can a player make $8.5M and be considered affordable?
When the qualifying offer is 17.2, the ridiculous contracts that get signed for bullpen help that isn’t even a closer or Andrew miller type not to mention the billion dollar deals mid market teams are getting the $ is so ridiculous that 8 mill is kinda chump change. That’s a deal even Tampa may look @
Especially when they also post 206 SO’s in 644 PA’s while also fielding at a -1.5 dWAR.
Brewers fans should be reminded that they just signed Carter as a free agent last season for $2.5MM when he was expected to make twice that as a first time arbitration eligible player with the Astros before being non-tendered by the December 1st deadline. None of his negatives on offense or defense have improved, so some other organization will now have an opportunity to get the player he has always been throughout his career…big time power and little else.
Btw-The Brewers will also have another chance to re-sign Carter as a FA, perhaps for significantly less than his $8.1MM projected arbitration salary in 2017…just like last year.
Btw- Carter was a former White Sox draft pick in 2005 (15th round) who never played on the South Side but did fetch Carlos Quentin in a straight up swap with the Diamondbacks in 2007. Two weeks later, Carter was flipped to the A’s in a much bigger trade that also involved big names like OF Carlos (“Cargo”) Gonzalez, right-handed SP Dan Haren and southpaw Brett Anderson. He finally made his big league debut in 2010 with Oakland before being traded once again in 2013 to the Astros in a package deal that netted Oakland infielder Jed Lowrie.
Well seeing as he went unclaimed on waivers begs the question as if anybody was even interested
The non-tender deadline for arbitration eligible players will be Friday of this week. Carter’s free agency will become official the following day unless he is traded in the meantime, which now appears unlikely. Technically speaking, the Brewers have not made an “official” announcement or release, meaning no waivers have been requested, as the deadline approaches.
I was talking about at trade deadline. I understand how to the non tender deadline works.
Doubt it. The guy was a poor man’s Dave Kingman at the best of times, only Kingman had his dog as a personal bat boy to draw attention sometimes away from the fact he was mostly a 1 trick pony HR hitter, who otherwise had -0- defensive ability, not to mention strikeout machine.
I would rate Chris Carter’s offense between Gorman Thomas and Dave Kingman.
Thomas was a good defensive CF; Kingman was actually a much worse defender…..than anyone.
Kingman bounced around quite abit but became an asset once he became Oakland’s full-time DH, at a time Oakland just needed bodies..
Leads the league in HR and then gets cut. Shoes how much the sport is changing
.221 batting average almost deserves to be cut.
incorrect. .318 OBP and no defense deserves to be cut.
When in recent memory has a 41 HR player with another year of cheap control gotten cut though?
Last year. The same player.
He played decent defense. Not great but I have definitely seen worse defenders.
He had better stats than Trumbo did in 2015, before he was traded to Baltimore. Looks like Baltimore now has an opportunity to pick up the next Trumbo cheap. He even gets on base more.
The average isn’t the problem. It’s the no defense, running and average obp that’s the problem
Please sign with the Rockies.
Haha he’d put up huge numbers there
Rockies for 50 haha
How do you non tender a guy who hit 41 home runs?
Exactly. 41 HRs and 94 RBIs. What more do you want from a guy?
Makes me wonder what contract Trumbo will get now.
I agree, Chris carter is mark trumbo, yeah he has a lower batting average but both players WAR where hardly above replacement level, as a Yankee fan I would like to see them sign carter as the dh. If it works out and he hits 40 great, if not use the dh as a revolving door to rest players. Don’t give up a draft pick on Edwin, Bautista, or cespedes. Let the kids play and just maybe we might have something special
Preferably not K’ing 206 times why playing bad defense.
What more do they want? Lots, actually. A decent OBP, any defensive ability, any baserunning ability..
His OBP is actually decent, he did walk a lot but the rest is true
Well, I didn’t realize how abysmal his defense is. Both B-R and FG say he’s worth less than a win above replacement, due to being almost comically bad with the glove. At that rate, paying a guy $8m is a losing proposition.
As a DH though, and cheaper than that, he’s a prize.
Agreed. 8 million for 40+ bombs is very reasonable regardless of the low average. Brewers just lost out, the Rockies will probably sign him within the week.
The Indians as a cheaper Napoli replacement might also be a good destination for him.
The issue is $8.5M for a one dimensional player. He loses games with his lack of defense and strikes out, wasting quality ABs.
The Indians don’t need another DH type.
Like Napoli?
Carter would be a great fit for Miami. A platoon partner for Justin Bour, and a much needed shot of power in an average-heavy lineup.
O’s or the angels make good fits
I guess the Os could DH him but they already have low BA high strike out guys.
A shame he can’t play left field , angels could use his big bat
Yes, because another RH DH after Pujols and Cron is just what the team needs.
Exactly Geo…. This guy obviously has zero clue in regards to the Halos needs.
according to him they need everyone
Winners hit pitchers pitches in the gap not mistakes for hr. Could be a good platoon guy somewhere but strikes out too much to win
Angels make a good fit???? The Angels only have like 4 1B and a team full of DH. Typical Angel fan for you.
if your Colorado why not
potential 50 hrs in Colorado and u wont have to spend big
No way. CO really likes good defenders. They won’t be interested. He’ll be someone’s DH.
Probably will sing with an AL team to be their DH. I think he will get a one year contract with maybe an option on a second year.
Boston would make some sense for him
yea with that green monster would be good fit
yanks do have a dh spot open as well?
Why autocorrect? I meant sign not sing, but I would want to see Carter try singing for the lols.
This sounds like BS
Good. He is terrible
Hes basically Ryan Howard. Hes no good
Howard never walked as much
Howard, early in his career, had two seasons with over 100 walks and one with 81. His decline was steep and quick, but he wasn’t bad in the beginning.
This screams Dan Duquette to me when Trumbo gets too expensive.
Mets should sign him, non-tender Duda, and pray that he improves with his glove.
fairly certain they said already they planned to tender Duda. and frankly, if they cut him they should aim higher. EE would be the logical fit.
Except ee can’t play first full time no dh no ee.
Ryan Howard Chris Carter platoon would be real solid lol
Except the fact that both of their power comes against RHP.
I suspect they tried to swing a trade but need to open a roster spot for someone who doesn’t cost $8mil.
Boy oh boy – Brewers fans are going to miss those bombs off the scoreboard at Miller Park. Pay $30-$90 a ticket to see Braun, Villar and Arcia and that’s about it for 2017.
Isn’t it spelled Cris Carter? The NFL WR in the Hall of Fame that did drugs then got good? Oh wait, it’s the chubby guy who hits 40 HRs but has a .200 BA…
Dude isn’t chubby at all, but he does struggle to hit .200 every year.
This guy had to go. Every time he whiffed, the breeze messed up Front Row Amy’s hair.
My off-roading Kia buddies near Milwaukee say Amy was removing for sharting once. I take their word, they also called the overtaking of Jeep by Kia as Americas #1 off road brand. Then it happened.
I like this move quite a bit. Saving some money a guy that’s not a part of the rebuilding plan. It was fun watching CC hit some bombs this year, but the Brewers can use that money for some mid-tier quality free agents this winter. That or save for next off-season when they plan to compete in 2018.
This guy was making 2.5 million in 2016. Understandable that he has a crappy BA with a high strikeout rate, but that’s pretty much what sluggers are. 94 RBIs isn’t bad either. But now that he’s loose, his name has “Baltimore Orioles” written all over it.
Pedro Alvarez Part II
Exactly. Although I would hope it would be more Mark Trumbo/Nelson Cruz than Pedro Alvarez. At 29 and with some arbitration years left, this could be a great pickup for the O’s in hitter friendly Camden yards. Could spell Davis at 1st if they want to rest him during a back to back game.
Yankees possibly? Could be a cheap alternative if Beltran signs elsewhere and EE is too much.
Let’s get something going cashman
The brewers don’t have much to draw fans on. An occaisional mammoth home run helps and you would think a 40 hr guy who is only owed about 3 mill the rest of the year would draw interest around the league July 31st. Seems like wasting of resources on the brewers, but then again they got 41 hr for 2.5 mill last year so you can’t dog them too much.
The Brewers drew less fans with Carter in 2016 (2.3 million) than they did without him in 2015 (2.5 million). And they even won more games in 2016. Chris Carter means nothing to attendance.
That is because they keep racking up losing seasons. Carter at 5 mil for half a year and trade him for a low level prospect midseason is a good idea. Telling your fan base you are already giving up on this year by declining a proven supply of power on a fair contract is not going to help. I’d be all for it if he was blocking someone but you may as well pay the league leading hr hitter a pretty paltry sum in nowhere’s ville to stick around an extra year to gain some assets. Not like free agents are going to be lining up to sign there the next few years.
Its also not likely that teams will be lining up to sign Carter.
Only a horribly run team adds players just for short term gain such as attendance. If you want better attendance then win. Winning is always the answer for that (unless you’re the Rays).
The red sox have done it twice with carl Crawford and Pablo had cheaper better alternatives that fit their needs more.
Hey any Sabermetrics people be able to answer this. If Carter were purely a DH and there was therefore no fielding component to his WAR. Would that change his calculated WAR? Or would it remain the same?
His WAR would be worse due to positional adjustment. Designated hitters take the biggest hit.
fangraphs.com/library/war/war-position-players/
Especially since his offensive war was terrible this year too at 1.4 take away his terrible defense and yes it goes down. Just look at Ortiz, most of his career his been around a 3 to 4 war guy
Yet, the negative hit to his WAR would be based entirely on the DH positional adjustment rather the combined factors of the 1B positional adjustment and his negative defensive numbers at those positions. I believe it depends on just how bad his defense is as to whether or not it would it would make his defensive WAR even worse to move to DH.
In short, his 2016 defensive WAR = 1B positional adjustment + 1B defensive runs above replacement (which is a negative number in Carter’s case), while his likely 2017 defensive WAR will just = DH positional adjustment. The question is are Carter’s defensive numbers bad enough to make up the difference between the 1B and DH positional adjustment numbers?
It honestly depends on how terrible his defense is, which it looks to be truly awful.. WAR figures in positional adjustments and DH is obviously the worst position to play. It’s actually some sort of interesting debate because is it really a negative if a team isn’t even asking you to play defense?
Anyway, his offensive output was a 114 OPS+ last season. That seems reasonable for a DH-only player. Perhaps, like Ortiz or Napoli, he’ll be a slightly better hitter not having to worry about defense anymore. He seems like a good replacement for Napoli, a pretty similar player except better against right-handers than Napoli is.
Ok cool. Thanks everyone for the information. Really interesting!
As an Astros fan I’ve watched Chris Carter play quite a bit and was so happy when the stros let him go. Brewers were smart too. 41 homers is cool…. but when you strikeout 206 times you aren’t good. He can’t play defense even at 1B and he never gets on base. Love the guy as a person and all, but its boom or bust with him and frustrating to watch!
You know he had higher OBP than Gattis the Last two years, right? Is Gattis frustrating to watch?
He can be, yes. But can Carter catch?
Can Gattis?
On the strength of 76 walks, Chris Carter this year posted an higher on-base percentage than Khris Davis and Mark Trumbo, two sluggers who joined Carter in the 40-homer club.
Carter’s on-base percentage of .321 was only six points behind that of Kendrys Morales, who signed a three-year, $33 million contract with the Blue Jays.
Kansas City could be a logical destination.
Morales also hit 45 points higher and struck out 86 fewer times while putting up 30 bombs in KC. Not saying Morales is a great signing but he helps move runners when not getting on and is more than bomb or walk.
Kendrys Morales also hit into more double plays (20) than Chris Carter (18) in slightly fewer plate appearances.
Very Todd Frazierish offensively.
Not really. Todd Frazier’s oWAR trumps (sorry!) Carter’s because he can run and still steal some bases. Frazier does strikeout too often, but not at the historic 33.1% career rate of Carter.
Frazier’s glove work as an above average defender at 3B also plays huge in his overall WAR advantage.
He’d be a perfect fit for the jankees. Short left field. He’d hit 40 HRs just at jankees stadium..
While down the line at Yankee stadium is short, left center is not an easy place to hit homers, goes from 317 or whatever it is to 398-399 pretty quick
Yeah there’s a few places I could think of before Yankee Stadium Toronto or Colorado would be my choices as top places to see him in to benefit his power.
Very similar dimensions in Houston and he pretty much sucked it up here too. Seems like a great guy, he’s just one dimensional.
You mean like Gattis?? Gattis hit 30 points higher and STILL had lower OBP
Not really sure why you keep bringing up Gattis????
I think it’s because the Astros non-tendered Carter and kept Gattis but there’s really no difference between them, except Carter is a better hitter
B/c it’s a free country with free speech. Do you have anything to prove me wrong? If not pipe down
Exactly…. Gattis did add some more value this year catching as many games as he did, but I don’t think the defensive metrics were all that good, other than throwing out runners
Carter has more hr power. Gattis can hit doubles triples and homeruns, he was one of the league leaders in triples in 2015. Before you say it’s luck it’s not. It proves that he is a at least decent base runner( Mike Napoli comp) while his defense is also not good, he is considered the backup catcher and outfielder, being a backup catcher proves that he has some defensive ability. Gattis is an all around better player, there’s a reason the astros let him go and kept Gattis and it’s not because of money because they were open to adding more payroll prior to last year, because they’re smarter than you tsolid so pipe down unless you have something worth commenting on and don’t come back with some OBP bulls$@t, it’s not a “tell all” stat
He goes from 11 triples to 0. Ummm…. YES it was luck. So A guy that hits 30pts higher, Lower OBP w/less Hrs is the better player? Astros might be smarter than I am, but I KNOW I’m smarter than you
Getting on base is literally the most important skill to have in baseball. Runners on base is what creates runs. Gattis is cheaper and he can squat behind the plate occasionally, although he’s a terrible catcher. And thos triples in 2015 were pure fluke.
11 triples is not luck, it shows that he can read outfielders and knows when to take chances based on the situations. So your saying you would rather have carter than starlin castro just to name one player, Castro hit 50 points higher and had a way LOWER OBP less hrs less RBI, didn’t play very good defense.I guess carter is the better player with your logic
if it’s not luck why’d he go from 11 to 0?
I never said that some weren’t luck, some were but it does show that even with luck he has some knowledge on the bases and isn’t as bad as carter on the bases, it wasn’t to show that he was some sort of triple hitting machine which everyone knows he’s not. But it shows that just because your slow as hell doesn’t mean that you stop at second on a ball in the gap. I can see that he’s never hit more than 1 triple a season, get got lucky where he hit the ball but most guys like him would just stroll into second but with some base running knowledge he knew that if he was aggressive enough he could get to 3rd on well played balls. The not staying at 2nd and knowing you can get to third is not luck. Before you say any player can do that which they could but they don’t
Placed* balls
I agree that getting on base is important but what your saying is that you would rather have carter than someone like starlin Castro then, castro pretty much had less of everything other than batting average and he’s a bad second basemen and shortstop but not a single team would want carter over Castro in their lineup and there’s a reason for that
Not sure why you’d bring up Castro. He wasn’t released by the Astros so they could keep Gattis. Going from 11 triples to zero is actually the definition of a fluke. I don’t care about RBIs at all.
But I’ll play along: Castro is slightly more valuable because he can play 2nd and short, albeit not very well. Castro has some baserunning skills. But Castro isn’t much of a hitter. Carter draws walks and hits homers. His skillset tends to age better than that of Castro.
Gattis’ sole value is in his ability to play catcher – even though he’s no good back there. There is a bit of value in being even a bad catcher. But Gattis doesn’t have any ability to get on base, and the swing-and-miss in his game is as profound as Carter’s.
Stfu
Thank you Jeff51488! You took the words right out of my mouth
How many of those homeruns over the last two years put the Brewers ahead or tied the game? If he were in the AL and served as a DH, what would his WAR be and what type of salary would he expect to receive based on that WAR?
His WAR would be about the same; his terrible defense would disappear but the positional adjustment for being a full-time DH would probably even that out, unless his defense is truly atrocious, which it appears to be. Even a bad firs baseman is more valuable than a full-time DH, until that bad first baseman gets REALLY bad. Carter appears to be there. Carter only really does two things well – draws walks and hits homers – but that’s the skillset of a useful DH.
I think this could be a sign of keeping Ryan Braun. Rumors have been out there for a couple of years now of him moving to first base. It would definitely help with some of his past health concerns. It would also open up another outfield spot for what is becoming a position of depth for the crew.
The Brewers will not be keeping Ryan Braun. In May he becomes a 10/5 guy, so he would have to approve any trade. The Brewers will deal him this off season while they still have some options.
I’m not saying a trade is out of the question, I’m just saying that’s what this move could mean for the future. However, the package the Brewers might receive in return for Braun might not be enough to for them to accept. I think Braun is more valuable to the Brewers by staying more than being traded. The Brewers would have to be blown away by a return, and I’m not too sure that will happen. There’s a lot on the table.
Well he’s essentially handcuffed the Brewers to two teams with his approved trade list. That being said if they can’t find what they want there’s really no need to trade him. Sure he can drive the boat but that’s what he’s essentially doing right now.
He used play in the infield too.
Used to*
Interesting comments. Carter will get a job, but 8M is apparently too much.
And, amazingly, Baltimore offered Trumbo $17MM (dumb) and he turned it down (even dumber) and now has a draft pick tied onto his signing. Good luck with that.
Holds some value as a back end of the line-up guy at dh. Maybe Boston, Texas or the White Sox would fit. He’ll be cheaper than the Trumbo’s of the world, and doesn’t hold significantly less value.
Wow gone are the days where HR and RBIs were what you were paid for. Brian Kenny is so happy right now. With that said the guy can mash. And strike out. Someone will take a flier on him as dh and tell him to only focus on hitting. And a new role may help.
White Sox should jump all over this guy. He can be had for much cheaper than some of the other DHs on the market (Holliday, Beltran, etc).
Jays should take him on the cheap and platoon him with Smoak if they don’t resign EE. His D can’t be any worse than EE. I’ll take the 40 bombs and 90-100 RBI. Why don’t guys like this work their asses off to improve their D? Work all winter prima donnas. Take thousands of ground balls and throws.
Smoak is a switch hitter or he at least was with Seattle, but that platoon could work because I remember smoke being better as a lefty but I could be wrong.
He is a switch hitter but this would be an unconventional platoon. I would have Carter play against righties so he gets the bulk of ABs. Smoak against lefties and a late inning defensive replacement. Against lefties Carter becomes an all or nothing bat off the bench. But I sure hope the Jays come up with a better solution at 1B.
The other thing to think about is how big Time power guys have went to Toronto Later in their careers and blossomed Bautista ee he’s got the power if they can work their magic and raise his obp batting average by like 20 points all his other issues mainly defense baserunning could be another great buy low candidate.
That platoon makes no sense, Smoak is abysmal against lefties and Carter is a RH bat with traditional platoon splits. Your plan involves playing guys against their weaknesses…
White Sox don’t need right hand version of Adam Dunn or Adam LaRoche. No thank you.
I’m disappointed but not a huge shock. His obp was good enough and he played great at 1st. If you are are a brewers fan and want to see competitive ball gonna have to travel to the minors over the next few years. 2020 watch out. We are going to be back but til then garbage on the field besides those few young guys who may or may not be here by 2020
You need to watch for realistic goals. They will be good before 2020, but be patient. There is already young talent coming up, and most of the top prospects will arrive by 2018. Even in 2018 they could get a wild card.
The Brewers have spent the past decade as the example of how not to be a successful, small market team. How do you produce Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, Ricky Weeks, JJ Hardy, Corey Hart, and Yovanni Gallardo in a 3 year time frame, still have a stacked enough farm system to trade for CC Sabathia and Zack Greinke, and end up with only 1 Division Title and 1 Wild Card when all’s said and done?
They literally have nothing to lose except profit margin. Payroll will be bottom 5 again this year. And if they trade Braun? Pssht. An offseason without any FA signings would be a failure. They can trade him in July or even if they can’t they won’t be giving up any on-field resources.
There’s no telling when they get good again. They were only good enough to win 6 playoff games in 2 appearances over the last 33 years.
I don’t care if Chris Carter plays 1B. I just care that they put MLB players on the field. If Braun’s traded the Brewers should be the pick for 30th place. Probably even if he isn’t. Those SPs haven’t been consistent over multiple seasons and there’s little but A ballers behind them.
I grew up with this team and have followed them for 20 years, but I think I’m one year away from my emotional attachment dwindling to nothing. I probably watched less than 20 baseball games last year and I don’t know if I watched any Brewers games. Usually it was 50 Brewer games and ~30 others. Every Brewer game had the thrill of spring training and literally couldn’t hold my attention for a half inning.
Obviously you haven’t heard about Josh Hader. Only ‘A ball’ players my ass. Do you even realize how good their minors are? Many experts picked the Brewers to lose close 100 games last year, and they exceeded expectations. Since you didn’t watch any Brewers games you probably don’t know how good GM David Stearns has been for this team. Have you heard about Jonathan Villar or Junior Guerra? This is a very young team that is getting better. But, you can sit in a corner and cry that you don’t have a home run to cheer about instead of winning. You don’t deserve an opinion if you don’t even watch.
thanks for informing me I’m not allowed to have an opinion because I watched from 1998-2015 but didn’t watch 16.
I’ve watched since 1997, so I’ve got more experience. Respect your elders, youngling.
A 100 point spread between BA and OBP isn’t bad (although both were low to begin). Some team is going to take a chance $8-$9 mm.
Hard to believe that Carter’s only 29. This being said, he’s exactly the type of one dimensional player who could head to Japan for a few years, rack up a ton of yen and home runs, and finagle it into a decent big league contract.
Some team is sure to benefit from the Brewers mistake
It’s not that he’s worthless, it’s that he’s not worth what he’s going to get in arbitration. If he was DHing as a supplemental player in a more robust lineup he’d look a lot better.
He should be a Dh, his OPS is pretty good and he would be a better player if he didn’t play in the field. There are a lot of teams looking for cheap power.