I have been one of the bigger bulls on Matt Carpenter for some time now. I have him in almost every league I am in, and have made trades (Bumgarner and Pedroia for Rizzo and Carpenter) to acquire him in one of the leagues I did not draft him. With that said, I think now is the time to sell high on Carpenter.
[am4show have=’p4;p7;p3;’ guest_error=’Front Office’ ]
His usefulness is greatly tied to the fact that he is eligible to play every position in fantasy aside from catcher and shortstop. That in and of itself makes an every day player worthwhile of having on your team in fantasy, but Carpenter’s issues reside in his lack of counting stats. He looks a lot like what Martin Prado has been the past few years, before his boost in steals last season. A player who hits for a high average, should score a good amount of runs, but does not hit enough home runs or steals to be incredibly valuable in fantasy.

Sadly, most fantasy stats do not accurately portray a player’s actual on the field value quite as well as they should. Carpenter leads all major league second baseman in FanGraphs WAR and has the highest wRC+ (wOBA scaled to 100 with park and league factors included) at 142. He has, for all intents and purposes, been the best second baseman in baseball this year. He should be an all-star, which is why I am recommending moving him now rather than later. I think he will keep up this performance, but the performance in and of itself is not necessarily wowing in fantasy aside from helping in average and scoring a bunch of runs. That is useful, but a player needs to contribute in homers, steals, or both to truly have optimal fantasy value and that just is not what Carpenter offers.

This is not to say go find a trade for Carpenter as soon as you possibly can, but if you have a suitable backup at whatever position you are using him at or see someone on the waiver wire that could fill in adequately then looking to trade Carpenter makes a lot of sense. If the reason you have him rostered is his position flexibility this conversation may not matter much to you, but if you have him with a solid core roster and see a team needing his flexibility, maximizing your investment in Carpenter and getting a good return for him is definitely a great idea.

ZiPS projection system only has Carpenter with six more home runs and three more steals for the remainder of the year. It also has him hitting just .270, which is a .040 point drop from his current .310 mark. I am a bit more optimistic in Carpenter and the fact that he is on pace for more than 120 runs is also a huge boost. However, in the hierarchy of fantasy categories both of those are on the lower end of the spectrum compared to homers and steals.

Someone in your league will need a guy like Carpenter. If that person is you, hold on to him. If you see someone else can utilize his abilities more than you, they will be willing to pay for it if they know he is available. Right now, Carpenter’s value is likely at an all-time high. Make the move sooner than later if you plan on doing it. [/am4show]