Yankees: Four Off Season Mulligans For GM Brian Cashman

40 Home Runs For 200 Strikeouts Is Poor Math

This one is still warm on the stove, as the deal for Chris Carter was completed yesterday when the Yankees signed him to a paltry $3 million one-year deal. Carter will get incentive bonuses too, depending on the number of plate appearances he gets in 2017.  Which, should make for some interesting conversations between Joe Girardi and Carter as the season wears on.

To be fair, Brian Cashman always hedged his bets when he claimed that the Yankees 40-man roster was set, and we should expect no additions or deletions. Unless, of course, something “comes along” that offers us an opportunity to improve.

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And while most of us were waiting (and still are waiting) for an opportunity to improve the starting rotation, Cashman went ahead and picked up a player who has been discarded by two teams in two successive years.

Adam Dunn & Dave Kingman: Welcome To The Yankees

Chris Carter has hit 150 homers during his seven-year career while striking out 875 times and hitting .218/.314/.463. If that doesn’t sound like the second coming of Adam Dunn or Dave Kingman, then I don’t don’t what does. But, he’s here.

And he will get playing time, whether it means taking at-bats away from Greg Bird or Matt Holliday in the DH spot. Because as things stand now, something has to give with regards to playing time for everyone.

But the question I have, and the one that makes this a likely mulligan for Cashman is what the effect of Carter will be in the clubhouse, and not the fact that for every home run he hits, he strikes out seven times.

Because I have to wonder about a guy who will now be playing for his fourth team in a career that extends over seven seasons. And I haven’t heard any of his former teammates shouting about what a wonder person he is, and how valuable an asset he’s been to his team.

And for a young player like a Greg Bird, Aaron Judge, Clint Frazier or Tyler Austin trying to not only make the team, but to formulate what can become a nucleus of a new Core Four or Five, or six counting Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres when he gets here.

And to know that a veteran is sitting there ahead of them, at least in the mind of Joe Girardi, who would prefer to have Mark Teixeria and Alex Rodriguez back in uniform, that’s gotta be at least a bit demoralizing.

Next: Yankees All-Time Top Runs Producers

But, it’s too late now.