(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
The Atlanta Braves recently received slugger Matt Carpenter in a trade.
Then, they released him a few days later after they didn’t find a taker for his contract.
Carpenter was once one of the top table-setters in baseball back when he was with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Then, with the help of the New York Yankees in 2022, he reinvented himself as a top slugger after posting a .305/.412/.727 line with a 1.138 OPS in 47 games.
That earned him a contract with the San Diego Padres in 2023, but he struggled with injuries and inconsistency and posted a disappointing .641 OPS in 76 games.
The folks at Fireside Yankees believe New York should call Carpenter and set up a reunion.
Matt Carpenter is now a free agent after being released by the Braves.
Should the #Yankees bring the king back to the Bronx?#RepBX pic.twitter.com/fK8x6KH0hM
— Fireside Yankees (@FiresideYankees) December 18, 2023
As always, it would depend on the terms of the agreement.
If Carpenter is looking for an MLB contract, perhaps he will find it elsewhere.
If, on the contrary, he is willing to settle for a minor league deal with an invitation to camp (this in case he can’t find anything with guaranteed MLB time, of course), then it makes all the sense in the world for the Yankees to bring him in to see if there is anything left in his left-handed bat.
As a lefty, he took advantage of the Yankee Stadium short porch in 2022, with 15 homers in those 47 games.
Now, the question remains: is he closer to his 2022 version or the 2023 one?
Even in 2022, he was starting to cool off after a fast start when he fractured his foot after a foul ball and his season ended.
It wouldn’t be the worst idea for the Yankees to have him around as depth.
The post Yankees Analyst Identifies Potential Reunion With Veteran Player appeared first on The Cold Wire.