Suddenly the Yankees Are REALLY Right-Handed

As I mentioned in my post earlier this morning the New York Yankees agreed to a one-year deal worth $3 million recently with the National League leader in home runs, Chris Carter. Carter, most recently of the Milwaukee Brewers, hit 41 home runs in 2016 leading all of the National League playing in a career high 160 games and his signing continues a trend for New York as of late. The team, a team once built around the short porch in right field and left-handed hitting, is now REALLY right-handed. Does that matter? Will it affect how they play inside Yankee Stadium? Honestly it’s anyone’s guess but let’s try and decipher it anyway.

Carter is a power-only type player at this point in his career. Carter slashed .222/.321/.499 in 2016 with 27 doubles, 84 runs and 94 RBI on an offensively depleted Brewers squad. You would imagine having this team and cast of character behind him that at least the runs scored and RBI totals should go up but in the era of specialized bullpens, LOOGY’s and now ROOGY’s will we see the exact opposite happen in the Bronx?

Carter joins fellow right-handed hitters like Gary Sanchez, Chase Headley (switch hitter I know but stay with me), Starlin Castro, Matt Holliday, Aaron Judge, Tyler Austin, Rob Refsnyder and other potentials for the bench including Ronald Torreyes and Austin Romine. That’s potentially half the lineup or more, depending on Refsnyder playing in the outfield and Torreyes playing at shortstop for example), being right-handed on a daily basis in the Bronx.

Traditionally Yankee Stadium is not friendly to right-handed power hitters as far as home runs go although there have been clear exceptions to this rule including Alex Rodriguez and Lou Gehrig. Carter, Holliday, Castro and others are not Alex Rodriguez in their primes by any means but the thing about this team is they don’t have to be. The pressure and “need” to win is not on this team like it has been on teams of the past. So I say this, so what if the Yankees are “too” right-handed heavy. So what if the team is lacing a double in the gap instead of barely putting it over the wall in right field? A run is a run and a win is a win and this team is being built to win. That, by itself, makes me happy.