MLB Trade Deadline 2017: 5 best spots for Matt Carpenter
By John Buhler
This season hasn’t been kind for Matt Carpenter or the St. Louis Cardinals. Should St. Louis look to rebuild, here are five teams to trade Carpenter to.
The first half of the 2017 MLB season has not been a fun one for the St. Louis Cardinals. After being viable for over 20 years, St. Louis might be facing the harsh reality of an honest rebuild. The Cardinals are 41-44 through 85 games. While they are only 5.5 back of the first-place Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central, the Cardinals are 7.5 games back of the Colorado Rockies for the second NL Wild Card berth.
In short, the Cardinals have been progressively worse since 2013. They went from the World Series to the 2014 NLCS to the 2015 NLDS to not making the postseason in 2016. One player whose production somewhat correlates to the Cardinals struggles is infielder Matt Carpenter.
Back in 2013, Carpenter was an elite second basemen for the Redbirds. He hit .318, led the NL in hits with 199, won a Silver Slugger, made his first All-Star team and finished fourth in NL MVP. Flash forward to 2017 and Carpenter is hitting a miserable .231 and having to play first base since the Cardinals prematurely traded Matt Adams to the Atlanta Braves.
Jedd Gyorko has been solid at third, but Carpenter may be better served going back to the hot corner or even back at second base. Even though he’s not hitting up to par this season, Carpenter offers power and an ability to play three infield positions at a decent to high level. He might be the Cardinals best trade asset should they look to blow it up. Here are five teams that would love to grab Carpenter before the July 31 deadline.
San Francisco Giants
NL, West
While the Cardinals have certainly disappointed this season, one could argue that’s really been the case for the bottom two-thirds of the National League. After the Rockies, it’s slim pickings for any viable postseason threat. No team has cratered from good to rancid quite like the San Francisco Giants.
We get that it’s an odd year, so there is no mathematical reason the Giants should be making the NL postseason. However, who would have thought that they would have the second-worst record in the Senior Circuit through the 4th of July. The pitching staff has been mostly miss and the timely hitting has largely evaporated in the city by the bay.
One under-the-radar issue San Francisco has had is at third base. Parting ways with Pablo Sandoval after 2014 was probably in the Giants best interest because food is winning in the battle of Kung Fu Panda in Boston. While trading for Matt Moore with the Tampa Bay Rays was good short-term, it did cost the Giants Matt Duffy and left a gaping hole at the hot corner.
The thought is that Carpenter could play some second or third and maybe even some first if Brandon Belt gets hurt. While we shouldn’t expect Carpenter to hit .300 again, his ability to knock in base runners would be greatly appreciated in San Francisco. Since Carpenter is under contract through 2019, he would be come a piece that could help the Giants win it all as early as 2018.