Matt Carpenter
Crisis averted for the St. Louis Cardinals, who now have a permanent role for Matt Carpenter. Opportunities were sure to be sparse for the long-time Cardinal. He would’ve played second fiddle to Paul Goldschmidt at first base, Kolten Wong at second base, and Tommy Edman at third base.
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He’ll be the club’s DH in 2020. Carpenter had a head-scratcher of a 2019 campaign, contributing by far the worst power numbers of his career. His 15 home runs were 21 shy of his previous year’s total, plus he drove in only 46 runs. He did very little to help a relatively shallow offense.
St. Louis needs a typical year from Carpenter, who has been one of their top bats in recent years. Perhaps new life as a DH will jolt him into form.
Ian Happ
Ian Happ is in the running for a few positions with the Chicago Cubs, namely second base and left field. The second base competition looks steep, while leftfield is down to him and Steven Souza Jr. – contingent on Kyle Schwarber being the team’s DH.
The 25-year-old, switch-hitting Happ is in the Cubs’ good graces. They want him to play, and there’s now an obvious position for him. He’s the favorite to begin the year in left field.
Happ notched just 58 games with Chicago last year, but he impressed with 11 home runs, a .333 OBP, and a .898 OPS. He could frighten some opposing pitchers from the bottom third of the batting order in 2020.