If you want to reach the Yankees, you can find them on the tightrope. They have embraced their high-wire act like few teams before them.
The Steinbrenners’ desire to simultaneously contend and develop youngsters — contrary to, say, the Cubs, who tanked their way into ending their 108-year funk — took a most interesting step Tuesday, as they closed in on a one-year agreement with jettisoned slugger Chris Carter.
As first reported by USA Today, if Carter passes his physical, he’ll make $3 million and have another $500,000 attainable via incentives covering plate appearances.
Carter, 30, reached free agency only because the Brewers didn’t want to pay him the approximately $8 million he would’ve had coming through the arbitration/service-time process, and neither did anyone else via a trade with Milwaukee. So the reigning National League home run co-leader — his 41 blasts tied him with Colorado’s Nolan Arenado — became a non-tender, lowering his price tag considerably.
The Yankees, who hadn’t whipped out their checkbooks since finalizing the five-year, $86 million deal to bring back Aroldis Chapman last December, pounced on Carter because they still hope to play meaningful baseball this year — even as they field what should wind up as their youngest squad in a generation. At this price, the Yankees felt they could overlook Carter’s career .314 on-base percentage, his 751 strikeouts in 1,953 at-bats over the four prior seasons and his awful defense.
The club envisions Carter, 30, serving as a first baseman and designated hitter against lefty starting pitchers, and then, when a right-hander starts for the opposition, a bench weapon for Joe Girardi to deploy against southpaw relievers. Carter, who slashed .222/.321/.499 last season, owns a career .221/.337/.459 line versus lefty pitching and went .224/.338/.537 in 160 such plate appearances last year. Carter provides additional insurance in case Greg Bird, set to get the majority of the reps at first base, experiences further injury turbulence after missing all of last year due to right shoulder surgery.
Carter also can DH — his ideal position — if new acquisition Matt Holliday gets hurt or doesn’t perform. Holliday also has a career’s worth of outfield experience and has been taking grounders at first base.
If Carter is terrible, the Yankees can release him. If he performs well but the Yankees are terrible, the Yankees can trade him for more young talent.
The through line in the Yankees’ tightrope walk, which you also could characterize as “wanting to have their cake and eat it, too,” is ensuring that the top young talents’ opportunities aren’t compromised, and the Carter signing shouldn’t do that. Aaron Judge remains number one on the depth chart for right field and Bird at first base. If you were to write out a 13-man position-player roster today, Carter would seemingly take the place of first baseman-outfielder Tyler Austin, who enjoyed a rebound 2016 and delivered a few big hits upon reaching the majors but would not be characterized as a can’t-miss prospect. And odds are, if Austin attacks his job with the same zeal he exhibited last year, he’ll earn his chance again.
A team more committed to winning it all in 2017 would have signed a higher-end bat like, say, Edwin Encarnacion. A team more committed to development would have passed on Carter and created one fewer hurdle for Austin.
The Yankees are neither of those teams. They are kings of the tightrope, and Carter, whose limited yet compelling skill set banished him to baseball’s hinterlands for a while, becomes a poster boy for their kingdom’s ambitious mission.
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