Brewers signing of Chris Carter plugs a hole

Well, okay then.

Two short days ago, I talked about a couple of things the Brewers still needed to accomplish to assemble a working active roster for 2016. A little over 24 hours later David Stearns had taken care of the first thing on the list by bringing in former Houston Astros first baseman Chris Carter on a 1 year, $2.5 million deal with an additional $500k in potential incentives. Of course, you might have missed it, as the news broke right just as baseball Twitter was sharpening its pitchforks and lighting its torches in response to the Hall of Fame voting results. Do we know who didn't vote for Ken Griffey Jr. yet? Do we know who did vote for David Eckstein? What if it's the same guys? WHAT IF IT'S THE SAME GUYS!?

Under Construction: Work Still Left to Do on the 2016 Roster

Who's on first? No seriously, who's on first. Is...is that William Scott Middlebrooks? (Note: ASKED AND ANSWERED)

But I digress, we don't need to talk about the fact that the voters TOTALLY BLEW IT by failing to give Jim Edmonds the 5% that he needed to stay on the ballot okay okay okay I'm sorry I'm done.

Carter clarifies the infield situation, barring any further outgoing trades. He doesn't really have much of a platoon split-- .216/.298/.458 vs. RHP and .220/.337/.440 vs. LHP (oh god I'm going to hate this)--so he'll be your everyday starter at first base. Going around the horn, you'll have Scooter Gennett on the business end of a second base platoon and Jean Segura at shortstop until he's traded or moved to make room for Orlando Arcia. I'm not sure just what the plan is at third, and I don't think the organization does either, but they've got a handful of options to try out there and they'll sort it out in Spring Training. I would say that Garin Cecchini has the inside track on being the Opening Day starter at the hot corner, since he's already on the 40-man roster (Will Middlebrooks is not) and third is his natural position (not so for Jonathan Villar and Colin Walsh).

In the lineup, Carter probably slots in at the five hole unless Khris Davis is moved yet this winter, in which case I could see him being your cleanup hitter. Carter began the season hitting fifth for Houston, but his struggles to put the ball in play pushed him down to sixth and seventh at times.

In order to make room for Carter, the Brewers DFA'd Josmil Pinto, the catcher who could be headed to his fourth team of the off-season. After ending the season with the Twins, he's already been scooped up and then designated for assignment by the Padres, only to see it happen again with Milwaukee. Claiming Pinto never meant that a trade of Jonathan Lucroy was imminent, and his departure (assuming he doesn't clear waivers this time) doesn't mean that Lucroy is off the trading block, but it is interesting. I had thought that Stearns would try to sneak Pinto through waivers later in Spring Training, once teams had their batteries pretty well set, and was surprised when it was he--and not someone like Shane Peterson who has become expendable in the Brewers crowded outfield--that was removed from the roster. If Lucroy does end up being moved, Milwaukee will probably need to look for outside help to fill their backup catcher position.