Matt Carpenter’s career hit the highest of highs and reach new lows with the St. Louis Cardinals. After a revival with the Yankees, Carp has signed on with the Padres.
Matt Carpenter proved he could do it all with the Yankees. The longtime Cardinal signed on as a project with New York, and revived his career last offseason thanks to friend and Cincinnati Reds professional hitter Joey Votto.
Whatever the pair did, worked for Carpenter. The newest member of the San Diego Padres discussed his training with Votto in an article by The Athletic last season:
“One thing I love about Joey more than anything is that he’s so blatantly honest,” Carpenter said. “If he would have told me, ‘I think you’ve peaked. I think this is it,’ honestly, I probably would have retired. But he said, ‘I think you do have a lot left. I think you’ve kind of lost your way a little bit.’”
It worked to the tune of a .305/.412/.727 slash line along with a 1.138 OPS in just 47 games. Carpenter wasn’t just back to his old self. In some ways, he was better than ever at 36 years old.
Padres: A.J. Preller takes another swing with Matt Carpenter
A.J. Preller and the Padres have been active this offseason, signing the likes of Xander Bogaerts to an 11-year, $280 million deal. San Diego is going for it all, and much of that may have to do with the fact that Manny Machado is scheduled to opt out of his deal at the end of next season.
Carpenter — on a one-year deal with an option for 2024 — signals yet another win-now decision by Preller, whose only concern seems to be winning a World Series and worrying about the consequences later.
Carpenter is coming off a season for this history books — and perhaps a fairytale as well. We’ll see if he can repeat himself.