Matt Carpenter's success with Yankees made him too expensive to bring back
San Diego Padres' Matt Carpenter smiles after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox, Sunday, May 21, 2023, in San Diego. Credit: AP/Brandon Sloter
Matt Carpenter returned to Yankee Stadium on Friday night as a yellow-and-brown-clad member of the San Diego Padres.
The Yankees signed the veteran infielder off the scrap heap last May, and Carpenter went on to dazzling heights of home run hitting before a broken foot derailed his season.
Carpenter loved being a Yankee. The Yankees loved having him.
So why didn’t the Yankees re-sign Carpenter as a free agent in the offseason?
On Dec. 20 — the same day the Yankees officially re-signed Aaron Judge to a nine-year, $360 million contract — Carpenter agreed to a two-year deal with San Diego that guarantees the 37-year-old $12 million and could be worth as much as $21 million.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, in a text message exchange with Newsday on Friday, heaped praise on Carpenter, writing: “He was a pleasure to have and was very well-respected . . . Lucky to have [him].”
So why didn’t they keep him?
“We got him on a bargain last year,” Cashman texted, “and after that year he had, his free agency value put him outside of our price range for the role.”
“That year he had” was a doozy: In 47 games with the Yankees, Carpenter hit .305 with 15 home runs and a 1.138 OPS.
Did he want to come back?
“It was certainly something that I would have, for sure, entertained,” Carpenter said on Friday outside the Padres’ dugout. “There were some teams involved and we were in discussions, but it just never really progressed [with the Yankees] . . . I don’t have any regrets and I’m sure they don’t, either. That was just the way it worked out. But that doesn’t take away from the time that I had here last year and the enjoyment I had being here and the relationship I have with everybody in this organization.”
Last year, Carpenter joined the Yankees at Tampa Bay on May 26 on a prorated $1 million contract and immediately was inserted into the lineup as the designated hitter. He went 0-for-2 but helped the Yankees to a win over the Rays with a walk, a hit by pitch and two runs scored.
The next day, he hit the first of his 15 home runs in a span of 39 games. It was a revival for the ages for the former three-time National League All-Star with St. Louis whom the Yankees signed after he was released from Texas’ Triple-A club.
But Carpenter suffered a broken left foot when he fouled a ball off it in Seattle on Aug. 8. He missed the rest of the regular season and was a shell of his power-hitting self when he rushed back for the playoffs. He went 1-for-12 with nine strikeouts in the postseason.
Carpenter said the foot wasn’t fully healed “until basically the day I signed.”
After going 0-for-5 with three strikeouts on Friday in the Padres' 5-1 victory, Carpenter is batting .179 with four home runs and a .663 OPS.
With the Yankees last season, Carpenter started 14 games in the outfield, but with the Padres, he has been only a DH and first baseman.
This year, the Yankees have not found a regular leftfielder and have used multiple players at DH with Giancarlo Stanton on the injured list. They did not see Carpenter as a viable everyday outfield option and used him there last year only when injuries made them desperate.
Even with the foot injury, Carpenter said of his time in pinstripes: “Just a special year, all in all. One, just to get the opportunity to come here and put on this uniform and play for this franchise and this city. I mean, it’s something I’ll never forget. My kids, my family, we still talk about it, what a great ride it was. I’m super-thankful and so grateful I got that chance.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
