Surprising there was no market for him, with power being at such a premium. I don't think he was demonstrably a worse player last year than Gattis or Valbuena. But you can only have so many one-dimensional sluggers, especially when there are cheaper options available on the farm. Just hope they cut the right one. And that the salary saved is moved to fill needs elsewhere, instead of lining ownership's pocket.
Valbuena was the 28th best 3B last year in WAR last year and worth his small salary even in a down year. From what I can tell on quick glance, the 1-27th best 3B are not FAs and only one definite upgrade on trade market. If Duffy or Moran beat him in spring training or take his place in season, that would be great and would be the time to trade or cut if necessary Valbuena. No reason to get rid of him for getting rid of him sake.
Nobody wanted to risk paying Carter $5+. Plenty of teams will be interested in him as a FA. Gattis makes less than Carter (that being said, I'd have rather the team traded Gattis). Valbuena plays 3B, Carter does not.
If Valbuena, Gattis, and Carter are about the same value, odds are only about 33% that Luhnow selected the worst player going forward to cut. Based on publicly available stats and eye ball tests, I think Luhnow made the best choice with the available data, but there is a good chance hindsight will show that he made a "mistake".
I will say one thing about Carter when he was on he could carry the offense. He was big for the Astros in September.
Given his salary, incredibly inconsistent performance, and potential replacements in-house and in FA, this was pretty much a given. Best of luck to him.
Yep, but the Astros did not have benefit of hindsight. You make the best call with the information at hand and you move on.
JD Martinez wasn't on the 40-man when we let him go. Chris Carter was going to cost $5M+ and take a 25-man roster spot.
Astros had to place him on waivers to get him off 40-man. Every team had a shot at him at that point. Not even Detroit picked him up. I did not remember that he cleared waivers and then was subsequently released.
By the way, it all started right here: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=7874760&postcount=26 Shortly after that tellitlikeitis posted the first "Cut Carter" post.
