Matt Carpenter Is Back – Our Thoughts

The St. Louis Cardinals have brought back infielder Matt Carpenter on a one-year deal for 2024. How do we feel about the signing? Can Carpenter revive his career once again by finding his former All-Star form? Let’s quash some criticisms of the Carpenter deal as we remain cautiously optimistic for his future in St. Louis.

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Sorry people are making a really big deal about something that’s just not that big a deal with Matt Carpenter it’s like people are acting as if he suddenly plan a at third base Matt Carpenter is probably even starting third all season if he’s on the team the entire season I

Bet he draws like three starts at third base over under 150 plate appearances for him this year under I’m smashing the under I would be shocked I think Matt Carpenter if he’s on the team All Season gets into like 50 games and most those come as like pinch hitter or like weird

Defensive replacement thing he’ll probably draw like three starts at first three starts at third five or six starts at DH maybe he’ll play in the corner Outfield at some point he’s fine Insurance he’s a good Clubhouse presence and he’s won before I see no issue with

It again your 26 man rarely plays that much anyway remember how long Taylor moer was on the team on the bench in the first half last year people don’t think about that like April he didn’t play like at all yeah Trace Barrera like they They Carried a third and never used him

So they have space and it’s not a huge deal and it’s like honestly I know that people are like oh I would rather have burles or I would rather have cayi get the last spot in a perfect world yes but those guys aren’t gonna play like if Sai

Rides the bench that’s a mistake he should be at Triple A getting regular plate appearances that he’s actually ready for something you don’t want him to just get stale on the bench I mean the guy who was going to fill that role is Jose for me which honestly I don’t

Really care like exactly and he probably wouldn’t play either because Evan’s the backup shortstop and they have other people who play second base like for me wasn’t gonna play either if the Cardinals had nine players that were all locked into one position it’d be a little different but they don’t the

Cardinals have guys with tons of Versatility because they value that as an organization there’s almost nobody on the roster besides ronado and gold schmith that you can point to and say they can’t play another position I mean even even guys like Alec burles can play for first base the Cardinals have a

Bunch of guys that can play the middle infield and not only that they can play the middle infield at a pretty high level center field is really shallow but Corner outfielders left infielders middle infielders like these guys can play all around and so you don’t need a

Guy on the bench with a ton of Versatility you just need someone who can be in the clubhouse who’s not like ruining a young player’s development and who’s okay sitting on the bench a lot yeah exactly because people say like oh have Victor Scott for defense and speed

It’s like that is a total waste to have him sitting on the bench and you’re not gonna have Tommy Evans sit on the bench I mean like you’re just not like it doesn’t make sense and so um again if again if I mean people are right if I’m

If we’re wrong and K plays a lot they deserve a ton of criticism unless he’s somehow really good absolutely but the way they’re talking about it they consistently are saying he’s a bench bat and even Mosel today was on Tom AC and he said we’ll see how spring training goes he wasn’t like

Carpenters on the opening day roster he’s like let’s see if he’s good enough to make the roster or at least good enough to be the guy who doesn’t play yeah and that’s all they’re asking for from him so I think we’re making a m out of a mole hill

Gosh whatever I mean and also think about the guys the Cardinals have signed in previous Springs right Taylor modder Corey Dickerson Brad Miller actually was pretty good in St Louis he was really good but when Brad Miller came in everyone’s like oh who’s this guy like

What are we doing and it’s the same thing right like they’re signing a guy who’s gonna ride the bench because someone has to be the 26th guy and did you want it to be like buddy Kennedy if you did that’s fine if you’re a buddy Kennedy stand that’s okay you can be

Upset about this but it’s just not that big a deal Luc all I’m saying is there was this one hitter available that could have signed this off them to have in the B Lucas asked uh I know he has to be a player to get the

Braves money but why not hire him as a coach otherwise you just want leadership that’s fair and I think if he gets hurt or is bad he will probably be DFA and retire and might come on as a coach but Katie wo said this and a couple other

People have said it like they’re not like there’s a difference between a player who’s a player in leading and a difference between coach who’s a leader even if they’re a former player and it’s important to remember Paul Goldman and Nado both asked for Matt Carpenter to be

There they both wanted him so it’s not like the Cardinals are like oh we should jump Matt Carpenter on here oh this is our right idea like again it was partially their idea too but like G arado he things went poorly and all the leadership fell on our shoulders I think

That’s a bigger issue that should be talked about is agre how why can’t other players on this team fill that leadership void that’s fair criticism totally but like again if Matt Carpenter plays a ton and is bad and they keep putting him in the lineup which I don’t see Alli

Doing okay you were right and this is crazy what are they doing but assuming he gets up at like like a couple at bats a week when they’re in a getaway game or whatever I just don’t see it as an issue yeah I just I don’t think it’s

That big a deal frankly and I I think honestly like people who are mad about it just want something to be upset about right now um and this is their new thing to latch on to it kind of stinks because I don’t think it’s that big a deal and

They’re like we’ve said this a number of times there are genuine reasons to be upset with the cardal from off totally genu like like you can be really upset that it took them this this freaking long to figure out that analytics matter in pitching development y can be really

Mad about that you can be really mad with the way that they have handled their 40-man roster over the last few years like some of the guys that have stayed on it for no reason um had for example had Bedell been selected in the rule five draft which was a distinct

Possibility it would have been a huge mistake not protecting him so the Cardinals have made mistakes in the past and you can criticize them for it but I think this is a stupid thing to criticize them for and you know let’s let’s go waste our breath criticizing them for things that actually

Matter yeah I mean when I saw the carpenter signing I was like oh okay I mean the the way this team is going to go is they they had to go out there and get a 26 man whether that’s internally like Jose fine or if it was like signing

Taylor modder last year but like when given the option between a bunch of guys on minor league deals and Matt Carpenter who’s been like with the franchise before from both the business perspective and like a baseball perspective it doesn’t make any sense to go after anybody else cuz like they’re

Going to they’re probably going to make that back um in Jersey sales within an hour and I mean you’re right like they’re paying him $700,000 like that’s not that many jerseys um and for the for a guy who’s been surrounded by the team for a long time

Like that’s that’s perfect but like I’m I’m not excited about this move it’s not something that gets me going but it’s also not something to be upset about like you just signed a guy who’s never going to play I love another great comment Henderson and Wellman agency

There are a lot of parallels between karp and Donovan’s careers Donan is supposed to be a growing leader hope they connect well makes a lot of sense um so that’s a great observation with that um a couple other thoughts with that so like we talked about this

Already but like people are like okay who’s the backup infielder the Cardinals have the roster constructed in a very interesting way where they want Mason to play almost every day he’s young there’s not a reason for him to sit out 30 Games a year unless he’s bad and their offense

Is good enough they can carry a blow average bad at shortstop he’s gonna play almost every day and the days he doesn’t play Tommy emond’s gonna play shortstop and Dylan Carlson or large Newar will play center field and or Victor Scott be fine or Victor Scott Yeah by that point

Like and then like when does edman get rest well when keep starting Carlson comes in like they have like 12 guys who can fill all nine spots for an entire season pretty much because like Goldman arado contas need to sit a decent amount but you’ve got Herrera and then you’ve

Got the DH spot and you’ve got guys who can fill in those positions you don’t need like four backup guys who can play all the time or because people have been mad the last few years saying like why isn’t gold Schmid playing every day why isn’t arnado playing every day why isn’t

So it’s like okay they’re gonna this looks like they’re gonna be playing large Newar every day when he’s healthy and Walker every single day he’s healthy it’s like great they have their best lineup out there almost every day and when the few times a week where they sit

Or like few times every other week they sit okay you’ve got Carlson burlson and Herrera who come in great yeah really effective lineup it’s a problem if Carpenter plays all the time and I don’t see that happening no no and and it’s like honestly I think I might be more

Upset actually had the Cardinals gone out and like paid a real backup uh it’s a waste of resources and it’s somebody who would actually have the expectation of playing a lot that would be in in my opinion much worse because then like Matt Carpenter being on the bench

Doesn’t hurt the team if you go out and you get someone uh I don’t know like I I really like the idea of Kevin km defensively but if they’d gone out and gotten him and paid him big money all of a sudden like now you’re carrying a

Below average bat way more often one more thing about why didn’t they sign Carpenter uh as a coach or whatever I think it matters that Carpenter still wants to be a player obviously he thinks he’s still got something left in the tank and players do this a lot players

Don’t want to retire like Matt Carpenter loves baseball he doesn’t want to retire he wants to continue to play and I think it’s nice that the Cardinals will give him another shot to play also Carpenter’s two years removed from a really really great stretch with Texas’s

Triaa team and then with the Yankees so obviously he thinks there’s still something of that left some of that magic is left maybe it’s not and maybe it’s terrible and Carpenter’s off the team in June but there’s a chance that he’s a really valuable bench bat he’s

Got power he’s still left-handed um and it’s gonna be really fun to see him at Bush Stadium I think if you’re someone who’s getting worked up over the Cardinals enjoying sentimentality that’s a waste of your time because sentimentality is fun and every franchise does it every franchise likes

It and also like people point to like they wrode with wayo they were modder again again we already talked mod thing but like weno they had real conversations about removing him from the rotation when they were 20 games out of it like they were about to pull the

Plug with how bad it was and I guarantee you if they were in contention they weren’t going to let them go for 200 they were going to pull him and it was like I’m sorry but we’re trying to win yeah I I think it’s even less so with

Car or even more so with carp like he might not make the opening day roster if it’s just clear and spring training he’s just bad like so I just again downside i’ see like very little downside unless they do something crazy like playing him every day when he’s bad like sure if

That happens I guarante the new news podcast will not be like well they should be trotting out 150 hitting Matt Carpenter every day because it’s nostalgic I mean they were sitting Albert pools against righties like back yeah they stopped playing him like he was not good in the first half and he

Wasn’t getting playing time and he was about to retire and then he gave it one more shot he said it was so awesome so they literally sat Albert Pooles I don’t think it’s gonna be a problem yeah oh well agree more and he it’s been said in here he’s been working

With Matt holiday this offseason so who knows maybe he’s good if he’s not whatever they wasted $700,000 and if I hope Carpenter’s really good I really do I hope hits like 15 homers in 200 at bats this year that’d be really fun and would enjoy that and I would wear my Carpenter shery

To a game and I would be really happy about it