So, the object of a lot of strong opinions on CF, Chris Carter, is absolutely on fire. Is it a "hot streak", or is he becoming a legit hitter?? Looking at the last month obviously shows a stud. .290 with a .353 on base and a .566 slugging, one of the top hitters in the game during that period. But taking out the "hot streak" factor, looking at his season long numbers 24 HR is 8th in all of baseball .793 OPS is 47th in all of baseball Carter is 27 years old. Not "young" by today's standards, but still a guy that if he is improving, has hit best years ahead of him. And.....this is only his 2nd full year in the majors. I'm not saying that Carter is going to be the next great Astro or anything like that. But the guy is really getting the job. And let's not forget, this time last year a large majority of people around here were on the "Altuve isn't our long term 2b" wagon. So, who thinks Carter is just having the streak of his life.....and who thinks he is our long term DH? (i'm a Carter supporter but even I don't want to see him in the field, ever again)
If the Astros are to contend by 2016, then Carter will likely have give the player he is right now. Record wise this is another bad year but at least there are more bright spots on this years team than there have been in the last 5 years.
Easy. Cut Karter. On a serious note, I don't know. I hope that this is legit; I don't expect him to keep it up and become the next Crush Davis, but somewhere in the middle would be nice.
I don't know, and am done guessing if he sucks or is a Hall of Famer. So, have at it Chris: crush homers, strike out every AB for the next month - I don't care. You're aces in my book. You have gotten the best of me, emotionally. You win, I surrender.
He's been on this tear for almost on month and a half now. I am scared to say it is something more than a hot streak but I really think Mallee made a significant impact on Carter's swing.
You expressed my views exactly. I like the "Trogdor" nickname that the A's fans gave him. He kicks serious ass. He won the game for us tonight along with McHugh. Whoops. I think Carter will continue to improve his average, although I don't see him hitting over .270 for a year. He could still stand to do some cardio. I don't think the fans would okay the Astros trading him for further prospects. This is the type of player that we should sign to an extension while we still have leverage.
While I am confident this is a hot streak, overall his numbers over the last 3 seasons are still pretty good, a .797 OPS. Maybe last year was the outlier and in reality Carter is a guy that can maintain an .800+ OPS, which is a good number these days. People have to adjust to the fact that this is no longer a hitters era, .800 is the new .900 Number of qualified hitters that finished with an .800 OPS 2009 82 2010 56 2011 63 2012 57 2013 48 2014 41 (currently) If he can just keep his K rate where it is this year and was in 2012, I think he can be a productive hitter. His lack of a position hurts his overall value as a player though.
He's too one-dimensional for my tastes; the .494 SL% (which is very good) is offset by that god-awful .299 OB%. He needs to learn to work a walk or three into the mix; if he could do that... Adam Dunn is in his 14th year because, even though he's often boom or bust, the guy draws *a lot* of walks in between and has a fairly remarkable .365 OB% for his career. That, I think, is Carter's model. I don't care if strikes out 200 times; I don't care if he hits .200 - if he can get on-base 33-34% of the time and slug near .500, he has tremendous value.
His OBP was .320 last year, and .350 in 2012. His number this year is extremely skewed because he was sporting a .220 BABIP for most of the season. He's a flyball hitter so his BABIP may be a little lower than usual, but it certainly shouldn't be that low. He is walking less this season, but he is walking more in recent weeks. Carter isn't a 29% OBP guy. I'll bet it's close to .320 by years end. It's lower than you would like, but it's tolerable enough to support his power numbers.
Well, if my choice is .320 v .299, sure. As is, he's hitting a home run every 14 at-bats, which is *very* good - but he's doing almost literally nothing in the at-bats in between those dingers; a total feast-or-famine guy. It's why he only has 57 RsBI and a WAR of 1.
To be fair, his only-57 RBI puts him in the top 50 of baseball despite a whole lot fewer at bats that many of the full time players (342 vs most players having 400+). He's not a great piece in a great offensive lineup, but he's pretty valuable for a team like the Astros that's unlikely to string together a lot of hits to generate offense.
There are only 4 DHs that have produced a signficantly higher WAR than Carter this season (David Ortiz has less than tenth more WAR). Not great, but not bad either. 57 RBIs puts him 5th among DHs.
