Matt Carpenter has exercised the $5.5MM player option in his contract with the Padres, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 (X link). He’ll play out the second season of a two-year, $12MM guarantee.
Triggering the option was likely an easy call for the left-handed hitter. Carpenter had a tough 2023 campaign, hitting .176/.322/.319 with five home runs through 276 trips to the plate. He seemed to fall out of favor with the coaching staff as a result, often going extended stretches without an at-bat. His season ended in mid-September when he landed on the injured list with right elbow inflammation.
Clearly, that wasn’t what the front office envisioned when signing Carpenter a year ago. The longtime Cardinals second baseman had struggled mightily from 2020-21. When a minor league deal with the Rangers didn’t result in a big league opportunity, he considered retirement. Yet he absolutely raked over 47 games when he got a look from the Yankees in May 2022. Carpenter blasted 15 homers in 154 plate appearances, hitting .305/.412/.727. A foot fracture kept his time as a Yankee rather brief, leaving the Padres to gamble on him maintaining some kind of strong offensive form after that relatively small-sample performance.
It didn’t happen in year one. The Padres could give Carpenter another crack at securing a job on the bench, although it doesn’t seem guaranteed he’ll spend the entire offseason on the 40-man roster. In any event, he is assured of next year’s salary. With Seth Lugo making the similarly easy call to decline his option yesterday, the Padres are down to their two more borderline options on right-handers Michael Wacha and Nick Martinez.
What a surprise
The Padres now have two carpenters to help fix their team …
They need Jesus the carpenter to fix that team.
Lol
I honestly wonder about Jesus’ carpentry skills. It seems as if he had a lot of things going on.
It would be hilarious if a gospel verse said, “Jesus was way behind in his carpentry orders so he just waved his hand and created 14 tables and 37 chairs before going out to give sight to the blind.”
Well said
Him getting two years was the worst deal of last offseason imo
The thinking was he was probably getting one year offers in the 7-9M range and this was the alternative to that.
Anyone who bought into an .1100 OPS in 150 PA when he had years of below average production was foolish
.1100 seems bad
Shocker! The question is whether or not he gets cut after Spring Training. He was dreadful last season for San Diego.
(We can officially refer to the 2023 year as “last season” now).
Matt Carpenter has been terrible for literally 5 years outside like 30 games with the Yankees. Good for his agent
For real. His OPS+ from 2019-2023 were 92, 79, 63, 216, 81. He rode a fluky .422 ISO in 47 games with the Yankees to a two deal, $12 million deal.
He’s been terrible most of his career except for about 6 weeks about 5 years ago and the Cardinals gave him Millions,then he found a short porch in NY and got lucky AGAIN!
He was given way too much by the Cards and went up to bat trying only to pull a homer. Needs to retire
DFA material by the end of Spring Training.
That’s free money for him my lord. Good luck to him. End of the road walking with that. I’d take the owners hand as well when he handed me the check
Absolutely ridiculous signing… well he will be part of that salary cap hit!
That’s probably the most exercise he’s gotten since he joined the Padres.
Padres having a tremendous off season so far
Downgraded a minimum of 2 pitchers and as many as 4. Carpenter won’t be with the Padres long.
Wow
He won’t have to do anything for that cash since he will be cut at ST.
This was inevitable, but what I think is wild about this situation is that they carried him on the roster through last year because of this option. There were extended periods of time where he just didn’t play and this kept him on the team.
I’m not sure if they think they can dump this salary in a trade or if they’re actually hoping he regains some on field value, but if it weren’t for this option he likely would have been let go months ago.
Where is the know-it-all Longtimecoming who SWORE that Matt Carpenter would opt out because he would want to sign with a team that would actually play him and mutes everyone who DARES to disagree with him. Mr. Baseball who knows it all. Psssssssf.
An adult said that?
Idk how old they are.
Deuce – Sounds like Samuel, doubt he’s an adult.
Carpenter’s amazing turnaround always seemed fishy to me … now even moreso.
si.com/mlb/padres/news/padres-news-matt-carpenter-…
Maybe he opted in to figure out why he wasn’t getting opportunities. I mean every else knew, but maybe he’s a moron. Gotta respect his continuous search for knowledge.
Lol. Glad it’s not my money these morons are flushing down the toilet!
Preller needs to stop giving these player option deals on guys that are at fringe players.
We can debate whether it was smart to sign Carpenter at all but giving him an opt-out actually paid off because it can be reasonably assumed Carpenter left at least some money on the table in exchange for it (even if it’s not clear how much). It would have cost Preller more to sign him without an opt-out. If he could have gotten him for 2/$12m with no opt out he would have done it.
I guess that’s true, I just think Preller should have negotiated better, especially since Carpenter did not have as much leverage. He was good for a short burst, and before that he was mediocre for a long stretch of time.
Going to get paid very well to be on the bench.
Going to get paid very well to be at home.
There. I fixed it for you, Pobre!
Very true
Going to get paid very well to be on the beach.
Nice work if you can get it.
I’m guessing he gets released and picked up for the minimum by someone like the Pirates.
He didn’t have the short porch pad his stats.
But short porch didn’t factor in. When you look at his HRs with NYY, I believe only one was a short porch HR.
According to Statcast all 9 of Carpenter’s HRs in Yankee Stadium were to RF. Maybe that isn’t technically the short porch, but RC is only 385 feet. They also had his pull rate at 57.9% ( 23.2 straight, 18.9 oppo). His babip was .370 at home. I think playing there combined with the small sample is the answer to why 2022 was so good. He probably would have had a decent year in 2022, but had he played the entire season, it’s doubtful he would have sustained the numbers he had.
Really appreciate that you took the time to look that up. In this Internet era, most people don’t bother.I am not at my desktop right now, but to repay your kindness, I am gonna do the research on those 9 HRs in Yankee Stadium again. I remember it being 1 or 2 that were short porch. But I am going to get you solid numbers. If I am successful in convincing you, then join me in fighting the false narrative that Carl’s 2022 success was all about the field he played on.
When I see something like your post, I like to research for my own edification. If I find something I think interesting I’ll post it. Here’s the link to Statcast:
baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/matt-carpente…
Although the stats indicate he did benefit from playing in NY, the small sample is even a greater factor IMO. Plenty of guys have gone a HR tear over a short period of time, but most aren’t able to sustain it long term. Even HoF guys with undeniable power like Reggie Jackson.
Hey, thanks for the patience. I finally was able to take a timeout and get on my PC to browse the Statcast website. Here are the 9 HR Carp hit in NY in 2022.
5/31 356
6/2 410
6/3 386
6/12 399
6/12 403
7/14 396
7/16 363
7/16 374
7/30 374
The one on 5/31 was the shortest to dead RF. The one on 7/16 was RCF. Later today I will try to go to the Would It Dong Twitter. I feel confident the shorter HR on 7/16 would have stayed in a few parks.
Overall, I think the guy just mashed that 2022 season. Is it sustainable for him? God, no. Was it because of the short porch? Also no.
The Padres SAY they are attempting to shed payroll but by no means are they lowering their expectations of winning a World Series championship. This past season was disappointing but they will be extra motivated next season because of that. Look for Tatis and Machado to have career years, and don’t be surprised if they bring both Snell and Hader back. Soto will not be traded, as they acquired him to win a World Series title. Ohtani will also be in the mix…..they will find a way to get it done.
The Padres HAVEN’T said they were attempting to shed payroll. Acee did. Only Acee. In fact Peter Seidler, AJ Preller, and Erik Greupner have all said they won’t be cutting payroll.
The Padres SAY they are attempting to shed payroll but by no means are they lowering their expectations of winning a World Series championship. This past season was disappointing but they will be extra motivated next season because of that. Look for Tatis and Machado to have career years, and don’t be surprised if they bring both Snell and Hader back. Soto will not be traded, as they acquired him to win a World Series title. Ohtani will also be in the mix…..they will find a way to get it done. Go Pads!
Be careful predicting career years for players. That rarely works out. So the Padres say they are attempting to shed payroll, but they’re obviously not if they’re re-signing Snell, and Hader, and even thinking of signing Ohtani to the biggest contract in MLB history. They’ll be extra motivated? Does that mean they’ll be more motivated than they were last season? Interesting.
Have you ever played any higher than little league? Doesn’t sound like it.
Oh yeah, the obligatory ‘have you ever played the game’ attack used by those when the contradictive idiocy of their post is pointed out.
It doesn’t take the experience of playing above little league to see that a team isn’t cutting payroll and signing/re-signing expensive to extremely expensive players. Not that it matters but I started 3 years in HS, and went to a college without a single sports team. But again, my history is irrelevant. Sounds like your playing history, whatever it was, is irrelevant as well.
Doesn’t sound like you’d be much of an asset for even a little league team.
In Preller we trust.
Highly doubt he is still on the team by memorial day at the latest, but big shoutout to him and his agent for securing this contract after 50 or so good games with the yankees.
Should the Padres attempt to trade him (for nothing) to the Yankees, hoping the latter are willing to take a chance MC will be good in pinstripes again?
Reapectfully, Carpenter has played more games at 1st and 3rd than 2nd.
He was once a beast with the Cardinals but they paid him for a number of bad years I didn’t see his sharp decline coming. Not sure how he got a deal with a player option after 150 ABs with the Yankees. As good as he was he was horrible for years prior. Maybe a one year flyer but the player option was a bridge to far for a small sample size for a lefty hitting in a good lineup with a short porch in left field
This was certainly not unexpected. Unless he explodes in ST, that will be $5.5 million for sitting on the beach at his South Padre Island home.