Red Sox missed perfect free-agent signing to torment Yankees
To count the Boston Red Sox’ many missed free-agent opportunities this offseason, you’d need to borrow an extra set of hands.
There are the players they didn’t keep (Xander Bogaerts, JD Martinez, Matt Strahm), the ones who didn’t take their offers (Jose Abreu, Zach Eflin, Andrew Heaney), and the players they never really tried to get (too many to list).
And it’s not even Christmas.
Some of these losses and unsuccessful bids are obviously much harder to stomach than others. In the near future, at least one will be considered a bullet dodged. But as of Tuesday, the Sox have missed the opportunity to bring a little chaos back to the largely-dormant greatest Rivalry in baseball.
Hot on the heels of a brief, but incredible renaissance season with the New York Yankees, the San Diego Padres are signing Matt Carpenter to a two-year deal with a player option after the first season.
After hitting .176/.313/.291 with only 60 hits (17 doubles, 7 HR) in 180 games between 2019-20, the St. Louis Cardinals journeyman became a free agent and went on a journey to find his swing again. He signed a minor-league contract with the Texas Rangers in March but didn’t make the Opening Day roster, and after about six weeks with their Triple-A affiliate, the Rangers released him. The Yankees snatched him up a week later and by June 12, he’d made franchise history as the first Yankee to hit six or more home runs in his first 10 games with the club. By the end of his first month, he’d set a new Yankees record with 13 home runs in his first 30 games.
Over 47 games for the Yankees, Carpenter hit .305/.412/.727 with nine doubles, 15 home runs, 38 runs scored, 37 RBI, 19 walks, and 35 strikeouts. He hit four of his home runs off Red Sox pitchers, all between July 8-16.
Should the Red Sox have signed former Yankee Matt Carpenter?
The Sox will pay Justin Turner $8.3M in 2023, $13.4M if he exercises his 2024 player option, or a $6.7M buyout if he declines. As Alex Speier noted, under the guidelines of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, the buyout being 50% impacts the Average Annual Value as it pertains to the luxury tax. Spotrac confirms that his AAV is $10.85M.
Carpenter would have been cheaper; he’ll make $3.5M plus a $3M signing bonus in 2022 and if he exercises his own player option in 2024, another $5.5M. However, the total value of the deal maxes out at $21M thanks to a $500K bonus for every 50 plate-appearance increment between 300-550, so exactly how much money he ends up making is yet to be determined.
But over the last several seasons, Turner has been the more consistent player by far, and paying millions to a 37-year-old former Yankee just to irritate them – especially since divisional play reduces from 19 to 13 games this year – wouldn’t be prudent; it could very well backfire. Hiring 2003 tormentor Aaron Boone to manage, despite zero managerial or coaching experience, felt at least a little bit Rivalry-motivated, and so far, it’s not working out too well for them.
Still, Carpenter switching sides might have added a little spice to what’s shaping up to be a bland Sox season, at best. But if they really want to keep the Rivalry afloat – and not get pummeled by the Yankees for the next decade – they should pay Rafael Devers so that he can keep teeing off Gerrit Cole.
