After last night’s game, the Yankees announced that first baseman/DH Chris Carter has been designated for assignment. He’ll be replaced by prospect Tyler Austin, who returns to the majors for the first time this year.
Carter was a surprising non-tender after providing the Brewers with 41 home runs last year. The streaky, strikeout-prone slugger ultimately landed in New York on a one-year, $3.5MM deal. Unfortunately for player and team, the results simply haven’t been there this year.
Through 189 plate appearances, Carter has managed eight home runs along with a 70:18 K/BB rate. He has always had a huge amount of swing and miss in his game, but in his more productive years has been able to draw a few more walks while striking out with a bit less frequency. Plus, Carter is bringing a sub-.200 isolated slugging mark that lands well shy of his .241 career average.
All said, the .204/.286/.383 slash that Carter has provided is just not enough output for the Yankees. While defensive metrics grade him as a more-or-less average defender at first, he doesn’t provide any versatility and the Yanks already have a full-time DH in Matt Holliday.
As for Austin, he has already showed some capacity for hitting in the majors after turning in a .241/.300/.458 batting line with five home runs over ninety plate appearances last season. He also struck out 36 times in that stint, and strikeouts remain the big question facing the 25-year-old.
Thus far at Triple-A, Austin has battered International League pitching to the tune of a .292/.355/.552 batting line. That’s actually shy of his output there last year, when he delivered similarly impressive power numbers while also walking at a 13.7% rate and striking out at a 25.2% clip. So far in 2017, Austin is going down on strikes in nearly three of ten plate appearances while drawing free passes less than ten percent of the time.
The hope had never been for Carter to handle regular duties at first base, but he was thrust into the role when Greg Bird struggled and then went down to injury. While Bird works back toward a hopeful return, and with the trade deadline looming, the Yankees decided to make a change. Even if Austin shows himself worthy of a roster spot, it’s possible to imagine the Yankees dabbling in the trade market — particularly if there’s a power left-handed bat available to provide a complement to the existing right-handed-hitting options. Of course, there are other needs as well — especially at third base and in the rotation — so the Yanks’ course remains unclear at this point.
About time. He’s a nice guy but just not a good player. Can’t believe he hit 41 hr last year
Yep; it’s just one player but more proof that the AL is the better league.
Huh? While playing in AL in 2014 he hit 37 HR. That was also in about 70 less plate appearances than he had last year.
What? This doesn’t prove anything about the differences in the leagues. Carter is all swing and miss. This is in no way indicative of the differences in the leagues. And I wouldn’t think someone to argue that the pitching was better in the AL.
When you remove the pitchers spot, the data shows both leagues to be incredibly balanced.
Please define “better.” There are many metrics and I’d like to know which ones you are using.
Why don’t you just look up interleague w-l records? Pretty simple.
You did not just say that we should use W/L records to calculate which league is better. What good would that do? Based on your statement, if you just looked at a series between the Astros and the Padres, you would say that the AL is way better than the NL
Yes, you just proved my point. The better teams are in the American League, and interleague W-L records are a concrete way to show it. If your argument is “all the worst teams are in the NL,” then, yes, that means the AL is the better league.
Don’t get bunchy underwear over a simple question. I was merely asking if you were after player stats or team stats. You cited one player’s stats as evidence, not team stats. That’s logically flawed.
Since 2000, the World Series titles have been split between the leagues. The best teams in each league are comparable. I prefer that metric because baseball is all about the World Series. Nothing else matters.
The World Series is a matchup between 2 teams with a max of 7 games. Interleague is year round with all 30 teams. Sorry, but the latter is a far away better indicator if you’re going to pick which is a better league.
Spoken like a true casual fan.
here come the Chris Carter to Japan rumors
Or Atlanta
He is signing with the Mets. This way he doesn’t have to find a new place to live, given that he could miss that as easily as a fast ball down the middle.
The Mets would be a perfect match given that their “internal team sabermetrics” favor heavily to players THAT ARE FREE!
I can’t really see a landing spot for him unless the Giants feel like putting Brandon Belt back in the outfield and try to jumpstart their bad offense, but San Francisco is pretty much out of it. This is the peril of TTO players, of course; once they stop hitting for power or drawing walks, there’s no other skillset that is of any use offensively. It is surprising the Yankees soured on him so quickly but he looked really bad this year.
Forgive my ignorance, but what does TTO stand for ?
Three true outcomes. Homers, walks, strikeouts. Basically any at-bat that doesn’t involve the defense.
Gotcha. Thanks.
Stands for three true outcome.
I think both the Giants and yanks could benefit from trading belt, he’s a great defender and is a power left handed bat…
SF is very out of it. Also why more Belt to LF for Carter only to squeeze out Austin Slater? Slater’s hitting like .345
You could just move slater to right. Pence is terrible. Span is terrible. I sort of forgot how bad SFs offense really is this season. Poor Buster Posey. Having the season of his life on this sad sack team.
Nice guy, just couldn’t put it together. Sorry to see him go but hopefully Austin and Bird pick it up so 1B is not a liability.
Probably would have survived one more game if he got a walkoff hit or sac fly last night.
HUGE news to get the decrepit Carter out of the line up and put in a top Gold Glove prospect like Austin. His defense should net 2-3 wins easily.
Your trolling sucks Death/ECK. I know it’s you.
Carter has cost the yankees 2 games this year by missing routine plays.
Why don’t they just move Headley to 1B and play Torreyes on some nights? Headley sucks too but he’s better than Carter or Austin and at least you have Torreyes in the lineup.
Austin can also play in the OF though. Well he’s not good , but he’s serviceable at least to play there.
Agreed.
With Austin being able to play in the outfield it will make sence for the Yankees to trade for Yonder Alonso, hope the A’s can get Dustin Fowler, they have a surplus in the outfield and with Alonso the Yankees have a better chance of winning the AL EAST
Stop it with the trade ideas for Alonso!
Sorry, the buzz around Yonder is not going to stop until he either gets traded or extended, but since they couldn’t extend Reddick last year and with Matt Olson playing well in triple-a Alonso will likely be gone soon. So, that’s why A’s fans are looking at potential prospects.
Yea it must be tough to be an A’s fan,but the Yankees probably won’t be in that market.
Not happening. Refsnyder maybe for Alonso but not Fowler!
There’s no way a half a season of Yonder Alonso nets the A’s a prospect anywhere near the caliber of Dustin Fowler. Alonso is in the middle of a career year, he’s never hit more than 9 homers in a year until this year and his defense at 1B is adequate (but he’s no gold glover over there). Don’t get me wrong, he would definitely be an upgrade over anything the Yankees have gotten from any 1B so far this year, but he’s not worth the caliber of prospect Dustin Fowler is.
The next time someone says, “2016’s HR champ is a man without a team?!!!”, remind them of Carter’s dreadful numbers ASIDE from those 41 HRs last year. I’d be surprised if another team picks him up unless an organizations top 2 first baseman go down for an extended period.
Would it make sense if the Braves sign Carter and then trade Adams? Or for the A’s to sign him and then trade Alonso?
Good chance A’s deal Alonso, but I really don’t see them singing Carter. Healy or Olson would be the 1B.
No MB923, neither of those proposals make any sense
Why doesn’t it make sense? The Braves at one point signed Ryan Howard. Yes it was to a minor league deal but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have any interest in Carter. (I’m not saying they do. But I wouldn’t say it doesn’t make any sense. They have nothing to lose. Neither do the A’s).
The A’s would rather give a chance to Olson and Nunez, the Braves will also want to give a chance to their youth, I don’t see Chris Carter signing with any MLB team for now.
There is literally no point for the braves to sign a first baseman when Freeman is coming back if they decide to move Adams.
The Yanks were waiting for Austin to have some upside before bringing him up. This reminds me of what happend to Judge. They both struggled when they came up last year. Austin now has a month to show the Yanks he belongs in the majors before the deadline. I hope he crushes the ball. I would rather see the Yanks spend their prospects on a good pitcher like Quintana or Cole.. I think that will be first priority at the deadline. I think Cashman wants to stay away from players who aren’t under control past this year, and who aren’t a clear upgrade moving forward. Andujar may be ready to take over 3rd soon too, although the move next year might be to play Castro at third.and Torres at second. Torres might not be ready until mid season next year after the injury.
Torres should be ready by spring training and I think the Yankees would like him to be on the MLB roster next year. I think Andujar gets traded by the winter meetings in a package for a pitcher. There’s no where for him to play with Torres and super utility guy Tyler Wade in the organization.
The reason Austin has been out along with Williams was due to injuries.
Agreed.
Castro should move to third now as his play at second has been average at best with head scratching moments.
Then call up Wade for second and those moves would be an immediate upgrade right now and for the future!
Wade is a better defensive player and left handed bat with more speed. Castro is truly built for third and he definitely has quick instincts and a big arm to play there.
Castro has, and will continue to have, head scratching moments in the field no matter where you play him. He has been like that his whole career.
Yea he’s having a great offensive year,but that pop up he dropped against the A’s hurt. There was another game in April he dropped one costing CC a win against the Pirates. This winter I would love to see them include him in a package to be dealt. He just plays lackadaisical so much and I don’t think he is the answer long term.
How about a Matt Adams and Bartolo Colon or RA Dickey for Miguel Andujar or Gleybar Torres and Tyler Austin deal. Yankees get the top hitting 1B and a starter for a couple prospects.
Even before they acquired him, Chris Carter never seemed to fit in with what the Yankees are doing. Someone will pick up Chris Carter.
Orioles will probably go after him so they can add another home run hitter, ignoring their real needs.
I know a guy who got cut by the Twins and signed by the Red Sox as a DH whose number was retired yesterday. Hope Dave D is smart enough to do the same!
Don Baylor….?
What does that have to do with this article?
Trader Dave doesn’t now how to scout. He is a master trader, truly enjoying moving young talent for over the hill players.
Brandon Belt will be Yankees first baseman within the month. He would benefit from a change of scenery, especially Yankee Stadium with the short right field porch. He’s a good hitter who takes his share of walks. No way the Giants even flirt with the idea of signing Carter. Posey gets more time at first platooning with newly called up Ryder.