New York Yankees Editorial/Analysis: Assessing the David Carpenter Trade

In a recent article for NJ.com, Ryan Hatch asked if trading relief pitcher David Carpenter to the Washington Nationals was a mistake. After a very short, but very rough, tenure with the New York Yankees, Carpenter was designated for assignment, and later traded for a minor league second baseman. After an even shorter, albeit better, stint with the Nats, Hatch wonders if Carpenter is “the one who got away.”

Carpenter’s numbers with the Nationals are good. In a little less than a month and in six innings of work, he has posted a 1.59 ERA with 4 strikeouts and 0 walks in 6 innings. Those are good numbers, and there is no doubt the Yankees would have loved that kind of production from Carpenter.

But, that is not what they got.

For the Yankees, the numbers were much different. In 18.2 innings Carpenter’s ERA was 4.82 with a .286 BAA. He gave up three home runs, hit a batter, walked 7, and had a 0-1 record. These are not good numbers, and any fan can tell you when Carpenter trotted in from the bullpen, the confidence level that he was going to perform well was pretty low.

Looking at the numbers he is posting for the Nationals, it is easy to wish that the Yankees had that pitcher, but for whatever reason Carpenter was not performing like that when he was in pinstripes. The sample sizes in this discussion are pretty small and it would be difficult to project performance. The limited innings and short timeframe makes it difficult to assess the trade. But even with that, often the story of a trade isn’t even about the numbers; sometimes it is more about the details of the deal and expectations. Sometimes players just can’t hack playing in front of the New York media.

Let’s look at the deal and a bit at some of the expectations. The Yankees traded for Carpenter in the off-season, dealing a once much touted prospect, Manny Banuelos, for Carpenter and LHP Chasen Shreve. The trade was significant because Banuelos was a prospect that the Yankees had been pretty high on. And then came the injuries and the less than stellar performance and finally they traded Banuelos away. The hope that fans once had for Banuelos was transferred into the idea that whomever they have traded for, they had better be worth it. And, Carpenter wasn’t.

Jun 22, 2015; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Yankees relief pitcher Chasen Shreve (45) pitches against the Philadelphia Phillies during the eighth inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Adding to this disappointment, Banuelos made his MLB debut this week for the Atlanta Braves. He pitched 5.2 innings and had 5 strikeouts before leaving due to cramping and dehydration. Not a bad day. Now again, we are trafficking in very small sample sizes here. Shane Greene pitched for the Detroit Tigers this year and for his first handful of starts it looked like he was going to be an all-star, but that did not last and now he is back in the minors.

On the positive side, the Yankees are very happy with Shreve, who has been effective against both right-handed and left-handed batters posting a 1.87 ERA. So far, his performance can almost justify the trade even without Carpenter. In some ways, Shreve is the pitcher we wanted Carpenter to be.

One of the most difficult things to do is to assess baseball trades. Players take time to develop and there are a lot of factors that go into grading a player’s performance and value. So answering the question of whether or not the Yankees should have held on to Carpenter is a difficult task and we will probably need more than one month and 6 innings to even begin to answer it.

But, maybe we are asking the wrong question here. What if we ask if anyone wanted Carpenter to continue to pitch for the Yankees the way he was? That question is a lot easier one to answer. It’s, a pretty solid “no.” What do you think? Do you think the Yankees should have held on to David Carpenter?

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