March 19: Carpenter’s deal will pay him $2MM if he makes the big league club, per Jon Heyman of the MLB Network (via Twitter). The Rangers have officially announced the deal, including an invite to spring training.
March 18: The Rangers and free-agent infielder Matt Carpenter are in agreement on a minor league contract, tweets Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Fort Worth native will head to Spring Training and hope to win a roster spot with his hometown club.
Carpenter, 36, was a top-10 finisher in National League MVP voting but has seen his offensive production go into a precipitous decline ever since that 36-homer season. While the lifelong Cardinal at least came within reach of league-average offensive production in 2019, his bat has evaporated over the past two years. Overall, he’s slashed just .203/.325/.346 through his past 910 trips to the plate.
Last month, Carpenter spoke with Rosenthal about the exhaustive measures he’s taken to revamp his swing mechanics and his overall approach at the plate this winter. After a lengthy chat with longtime division rival Joey Votto about Votto’s own late-30s resurgence, Carpenter set to work changing his entire process. The veteran candidly acknowledged to Rosenthal that he previously “never bought into analytics” even as his production waned. However, talking things through with Votto, former Mariners hitting coach/Dodgers hitting coordinator Tim Laker, longtime teammate Matt Holliday and others, Carpenter adopted a new approach to his training and to hitting as a whole. It’s a lengthy but excellent piece that’s well worth a full read for this interested in Carpenter’s quest to revive his career.
Time will tell whether Carpenter’s arduous offseason actually yields to gains on the field, but the Rangers should provide him with plenty of opportunity if he indeed looks sharp during Spring Training. With top third base prospect Josh Jung out six months due to shoulder surgery and presumptive starter Isiah Kiner-Falefa instead twice traded in a span of 24 hours, Texas is now looking at utilityman Andy Ibanez and recent signee Brad Miller as the likeliest candidates for playing time there. At designated hitter, oft-injured outfielder Willie Calhoun is the likeliest candidate for regular at-bats, but he’s in search of a rebound himself.
Suffice it to say, if Carpenter is able to rekindle his offensive production in Spring Training or at least impress the Rangers with his new approach at the dish, he ought to find himself with an opportunity. It’d make for a similar success story to that of Hunter Pence, another Fort Worth-area native who enjoyed a late-30s renaissance with the Rangers a few years back.
Hopefully, Carpenter makes the team. Great guy.
Great guy, but if makes the team, the Rangers have a serious depth problem on their roster.
Not necessarily. Regardless of the last few seasons, the man still does have an impressive track record. Can’t be completely ruled out that regains some of his old form.
Incredibly rare for a player at his age, in this stage of decline, to suddenly become useful again. When has that happened? It’s just a dream.
If I were a Carpenter
And you were a Ranger
Would you hire me anyway
I’d soon be a stranger
This is a bigger stretch than Mama Cass in yoga pants
Joey Votto improved a lot last year.
Votto, Lowrie, Darin Ruf have all shown its possible. Fernando Rodney, Rich Hill amd Daniel Bard on the pitching side has shown its possible. Im sure there are plenty of other examples.
Hope he makes the team, always enjoyed watching him in St. Louis in his prime.
Kinda sad that he left the Cardinals. I don’t know, I just have so many memories of him being there, even if he hasn’t performed well. Good luck
He didn’t leave. The Cardinals essentially fired him!
He left two years ago.
He actually played to the end of his contract last season and was a FA. His bat left him after the 2018 and has been progressively worse for the last 3 seasons.
2017 was the beginning of the end. Changed his approach at the plate to hit more fly balls. He was able to have some success in 2018 leaning heavily into that approach, but after the shift was implemented everywhere, that approach was ill-fated. 2019 and 2020 were awful, and 2021 was just next-level awful.
Wha!!! I wanted him to be the As 3rd baseman
His arm isn’t strong enough to play 3B anymore.
Says who? He still played 6 games at 3B last year (off the bench backing up Arenado) and 30 (out of 58 possible) there the year before.
This guy has been talked about in Rangers circles so much the past few years that I’m honestly kinda surprised it even happened.
Does a minors’ deal mean ANYTHING has “happened.”
As a Cardinal fan, I love Matt. He gave us so many great moments…but watching him become the pullest of pull hittters (with practically no success) was excruciating to watch after he had hit to all fields for so many years.
I’m rooting for the guy, but frankly, he should have tried to revamp his swing YEARS ago. The last couple of years of his $20million/yr contract weren’t his fault…get your money…but he became completely worthless and it really hurt the team.
Again, I’m pulling for the guy, but him being gone is one of the best things that could happen for the Cards now.
Wish him the best in TEX. I think he’d still be a Cardinal if he didn’t have the drop he did
well, duh! When you go from a solid hitter to falling off the planet, you are gonna lose your baseball job. Bummer as by all accounts a really good guy..
Obviously bad hitters don’t stay employed. I meant that Carp seemed like a Redbird lifer
Love this! Congrats Matt, wish you the best of luck!
Replacement for Brock Holt. LH 3B to platoon with Ibanez
If Carpernter, at this point in his career, is part of a platoon at 3B, don’t expect the team to win much. He’s a below replacement level player.
He hasn’t had the arm or glove for 3rd for at least five years. His bat used to play…but the team was practically always hiding him as far as defense was concerned.
Below-average, certainly, but Carpenter isn’t that bad defensively. Unusually, he’s actually a better defender at 3B than he is at 1B.
My god it feels so odd not seeing carpenter as a red bird. I know Kershaw is happy though lol
Best of luck Matt! Thanks for your time in St Louis.,
Went from my favorite player to my least-favorite player in his time as a Bird. Glad he’s got a shot with a Texas team, and glad the Cardinals moved on.
He needs to find that 2018 Salsa Magic again.
You don’t want flyball-happy 2018 Carpenter. It’s not sustainable, and it’s not his profile. That approach is what got him into this mess.
Somewhere, Al from White Plains is laughing his ass off.
Indeed. Probably in White Plains, specifically.
Too bad this isn’t the same guy from 10 years younger.
carlos martinez gave matt the cooties. the pitchers cooties mutated into hitting cotties for carpenter
Carpenter hasn’t been major league caliber for several seasons. Father Time is undefeated.
It’s funny = . analytics overlooks a low BA as long as the player has power. If he could up his power totals, I’m sure teams would find some more useful.
Was Dexter Fowler playing hardball?
Couldn’t adapt to the shift.
It took this long for him to believe the analytics being employed against him? Really? Loved Matt Carpenter. Wish him the best. Hope he can find a way to regain his swing.
It will be fun seeing him in Round Rock all year…..
He was such an underated player when in his prime. I think he can get some resemblance of his old self back, just less power and defensive ability.
Well, since he talked with Matt Holliday, maybe they discussed PEDs.
The big-market teams in the AL West need to start giving the Astros some actual competition. That means the Rangers and Angels.