The salsa has expired.
The delicacy became plagued by delicacy.
The great hitter Matt Carpenter now is a sobering sobriquet, a description of a past life still holding on for dear life in the present.
Carpenter intends to play next season, as Derrick Goold of the Post-Dispatch reported, but knows the Cardinals won’t exercise the $18.5 million option to bring the veteran back. The team will pay a $2-million buyout, allowing Carpenter to become a free agent.
Carpenter’s legacy is intriguing, because he gave St. Louis so many moments to see, yet the ill-fated timing of his demise — immediately after a contract extension — altered how St. Louis now sees him.
He became the bearded face of fan angst. In simpler times, that meant grousing about a guy under the Mendoza Line over beers or, possibly, calling into a radio show to vent verbal venom. But in modern times, it means virtual vitriol. The online community allows anyone with a handle to spew skewers about a player, regardless of how classy those people handle themselves. And during the 2021 season … and 2020 … and 2019, Cardinal fans used social media to bash “Carp.”
It was a Twitter perfect storm. You had a passionate fan base. An aging player with a questionable contract. You had sudden lack of production. You had continual at-bats given to the non-producing player. And you had the “what ifs” about the money he was making. All Carpenter wanted was for the Cardinals to win, but some argued that his existence on the Cardinals was keeping them from winning more often.
Now, to Carp’s credit, the 2019, 2020 and 2021 Cardinals made the playoffs. And over the years, numerous players have described Carpenter’s importance as a teammate, a mentor and a guide as they navigated the majors. There’s no stat for that impact. But yes, there are stats for most everything else.
Right before the 2019 season began, Carp received a contract extension that would pay him $18.5 million in both 2020 and 2021. And in those three seasons combined, he hit .203 with a .671 OPS in 910 plate appearances. This year, he hit a buck-69.
As columnists, just like ballplayers, we think about “at-bats” we’d like back. And I’ve often regretted my praise for the Carpenter contract extension. At the time, I do recall some hesitancy about his age — 33 in the spring of 2019 — but I was enamored by numbers. Carpenter was coming off a year with a nearly .900 OPS. And he led all of baseball in hard-hit percentage (all of baseball!). And it was only just a few years ago, right?
And no one could’ve thought he’d be so bad at the bat, right off the bat: .202 in March/April of ’19, .237 in May, .208 in June and so on.
Social media became merciless.
But that’s the thing. It’s possible that Matt Carpenter himself seldom saw the tweets. Wouldn’t have mattered though, because knowing his M.O., he was exponentially angrier than any St. Louisan. Carpenter burns to win, yearns to win. He’s workmanlike with work-ethic and has integrity and grit. He didn’t need @SomeFan to tell him where he was at. He was living it.
This 2021 season was particularly brutal. He only got two hits in spring training. Then he needed 17 plate appearances to get his first hit of the regular season — and that was from a bunt.
But they kept him around.
Manager Mike Shildt continued to praise Carpenter’s dedication to his craft and to the team. And this doesn’t make up for .169, but to Carpenter’s credit and personal reward, he thwacked a huge hit during the 17-game winning streak. The Birds were at the Brewers. Seventh inning, up 3-2. The pinch-hitting lefty drove a double to left-center, like the old days. He later scored for the fourth run and soon after, the Cards won.
Next year, to be sure, fans will continue to refer to Carpenter. The Cards probably will sign some big bat, and when that fellow wallops a ball over the wall, someone will say: “Thanks to Carpenter coming off the books, the Cardinals could pay that dude.” And they wouldn’t be wrong.
But here’s hoping that those angered by Carp in his last three years can also appreciate Carp from, say, his first three years, when he was an All-Star and MVP candidate. Point being, now that the Cards’ season is over, Carp’s Cards career probably is over, so we should acknowledge it in full. And it was a heck of a run. After all, even with the final three years, his 11-year career OPS is .815. He’s 13th in Cardinals history in doubles (301), sixth in walks (699) and 19th in total bases (1,975).
He has the 22nd-highest WAR in Cardinals history per position players.
He deserves a red jacket.
He was a key player on the team that went to the playoffs every year from 2012-2015.
Those days, he played all over the field and hit to all fields — he was beloved like the fictional “Ted Lasso” footballer Roy Kent: “He’s here! He’s there! He’s every-bleeping-where!”
But like the character Kent, Carpenter also struggled in his final season with his team.
And now, we wait to see if Carpenter will play his final season with a different team.
