Yankees: Damn it, cut the umbilical cord. Carter, yer out!

When the Yankees signed the 2016 NL home run champion to a one-year deal, eyebrows were raised and, for the first time many were led to ask, Brian, what the hell are you thinking? Now is the time to ask the same question.

The Yankees freely admit that they have no timetable as to when Greg Bird will return to the regular lineup. And they also have to be a little gun-shy as to what they can expect from him when he does return, given the contrast between his light ’em up Spring Training that was followed by an anemic (to be kind) start to the 2017 season.

Clearly, Brian Cashman has the same questions about Bird when he asked Hal Steinbrenner to write a check for three million dollars for the privilege of having Carter as an insurance policy against Bird.

Yanks Go Yard covered the story in depth with a broad range of opinions regarding Cashman’s move. But almost universally, our writer agreed that Carter extended the problem while not solving it.

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Earlier today, my colleague at Yanks Go Yard, Mike Calendrillo, made a sensible pitch for Mike Ford, who is currently playing at Double-A Trenton and having a pretty good year being promoted to the Bronx. Calendrillo also throws out the easy fix of bringing back Rob Refsnyder, who has experience at first base but has decidedly underperformed in any role the Yankees have placed him in.

Calendrillo acknowledges the risk with Ford, who is still a baby Baby Bomber, but again, anything has to be better than Carter.

To reinforce the point, in the game following Derek Jeter Night, Chris Carter saw a total of fourteen pitches in three at-bats. His line for the night reads, no hits, one walk, and two strikeouts. And this is not an aberration, it’s a typical game for Carter, except when his bat manages to collide with the ball, and the result is a home run.

The Yankees can continue to live vicariously with performances from Carter like this one. Or, they can do something they don’t want to do which is to eat the three million and release him.

And for a team that is paying Alex Rodriguez $21 million for the privilege of dating Jennifer Lopez, this should not be a hard thing to do.

There is no mystery about Chris Carter. He’s the kind of power hitter that we can only hope Aaron Judge never becomes. He a low-average, high strikeout with some pop in his bat who may or may not hit a home run for you when you need it.

Just say it Brian, I goofed!

A point of fact, the Yankees are stuck in a quagmire, and there’s no easy way out. Because if Carter is not the answer, then who is? The question is very similar

The problem is very similar, though, to the one surrounding CC Sabathia. At best, Sabathia can be described as “shaky” in the Yankees rotation. But if you send him to “never never land,” who replaces him?

With Carter, though, it should be an easier choice. He was questionable, to begin with as an addition to the roster by Cashman.

The Yankees Twenty-Five Most Memorable Home Runs

In the Yankees storied history, twenty-five of their home runs stand out as moments in time never to be forgotten and always treasured by baseball fans.

Cashman gets a mulligan on this one that he more than deserves, but Carter has to go, and the Yankees need to get creative sooner rather than later.

Because this just ain’t working.