Matt Carpenter Announces Retirement

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Veteran infielder announced his retirement on Sports Spectrums Get In The Game podcast (h/t to ) this morning. He hangs up his spikes after 14 years in the majors.  I  Riley Greene Jersey wanted to take this opportunity on this podcast, here with you, and officially announce my retirement from baseball. I was very fortunate enough to play for some great organizations, and had quite a thrill being able to don the St. Louis Cardinals logo for many years, a brief stint with the New York Yankees, and also the San Diego Padres.  Carpenter told former MLB pitcher  . Carpenter went on to thank his family, before adding that hes  excited for whats next.  A veteran of 14 MLB seasons, Carpenter was as recently as this past September. That was following a season with the Cardinals where he battled injuries and struck out at a 32.5% clip but still produced a roughly average 95 wRC+ acro s 157 plate appearances in a part-time role. That sort of production was still enough to make Carpenter a solid bench piece, though with the Cardinals attempted pivot towards providing young players more opportunities this year, a reunion between the 39-year-old and his longtime club evidently wasnt in the cards.  As Carpenter mentioned, he was wearing Cardinal red for most of his career. The Cards selected him in the 13th round of the 2009 draft. He made it to the big leagues in 2011, the year of the clubs most recent World Series win, but he was a footnote in that season. He was selected to the roster in June and optioned back to the minors after a seven-game cup of coffee.  His major league career began in earnest in 2012. As a 26-year-old rookie that year, Carpenter took to hitting in the majors almost right away. He hit an impre sive .294/.365/.463 in 114 games while splitting time between first base, second base, third base, and both outfield corners. That show of versatility was enough to earn Carpenter a sixth-place finish in Rookie of the Year voting despite the fact that he had yet to generate the type of power he would later in his career, clubbing just six homers in 340 trips to the plate. He also hit .286/.412/.571 in playoff games, though the Cards were felled by the Giants in the NLCS.  He took a step forward in 2013 and had arguably his best season. He almost doubled his power output, getting to 11 home runs. He walked at a 10% clip and only struck out 13.7% of the time. That led to a .318/.392/.481 slash and 146 wRC+. He was selected to the All-Star team for the first time. FanGraphs credits him with 7.2 wins above replacement for that season, his personal best by a good margin. He finished fourth in National League Most Valuable Player voting. Carpenter didnt perform especially well in the postseason that year, hitting .217/.263/.290, but the Cards made it as far as the World Series, losing to the Red Sox in six games.  The Cards then locked him up on which would pay him $52MM over the 2014 to 2019 seasons and keep him in St. Louis into his mid-3os. Over the rest of the decade, his production shifted slightly, with a bit more power but a bit le s on-base ability. The aggregate was roughly similar though, making him a very useful player as he bounced around the infield. From 2015 to 2018, he hit between 21 and 36 home runs in each season, totalling 108 long balls in that four-year stretch. He slashed a combined .260/.376/.497 for that span, leading to a 135 wRC+.  In April of 2019, as Carpenter was entering the final guaranteed year of his deal, he and the Cards agreed to . This one would pay him $39MM over the 2020 and 2021 seasons. However, that ultimately proved to be a mi step for the club, as Carpenters production declined over those next few years. His wRC+ finished at 96 in 2019, then 85 in the shortened 2020 campaign, before going all the way down to 68 in 2021.  The Cards could have retained Carpenter for 2022 via an $18.5MM club option, but with his declining results, the $2MM buyout was the easy call. That sent him to free agency for the first time in his career, ahead of his age-36 season.  Though many had written him off at that point, Carpenter was able to engineer a brief but brilliant renai sance. Thanks to some help from  , as reported by , Carpenter worked to revamp his swing. He signed a minor league deal with the Rangers and clubbed six home runs in 21 games for their Triple-A club. Despite the strong results, the Rangers werent willing to give him a spot, so they released him.  The Yankees gave Carpenter a major league deal, which paid off immediately. He amazingly hit 15 home runs in just 47 games for the Yanks, while also walking at a 12.3% pace. Unfortunately, that amazing run was cut short when Carpenter fouled a ball off his foot in August. He suffered a fracture and mi sed the rest of the regular season. He was activated for the playoffs but struck out in nine of his 12 plate appearances. His regular season line for that year finished at a ridiculous .305/.412/.727, translating to a 216 wRC+.  Though it was cut short by injury, the Padres bought into Carpenters return to form. They signed him to deal going into 2023, but that bet didnt pay off. Carpenter slashed .176/.322/.319 for the Friars that year. He was traded to Atlanta ahead of the 2024 season in what was clearly a salary dump deal, as Atlanta released him shortly thereafter. He returned to the Cardinals and, as mentioned, had a serviceable season as a role player. That will now go down as his final big league season.  All told, Carpenter got into 1,511 games and stepped to the plate 5,773 times. He had 1,257 hits, including 179 home runs. He scored 813 runs and drove in 659. He walked in 13.4% of his plate appearances, helping him slash .259/.366/.449 for a 125 wRC+. He produced 31.5 fWAR and 28.7bWAR, making three All-Star teams along the way. Baseball Reference pegs his career earnings at just over the $100MM mark.  We at MLB Trade Rumors salute Carpenter on his fine career and wish him the best with whatever comes next.  Photos courtesy of Jeff Curry, Imagn Images  Bill Freehan Jersey