In the end, the productivity of Carter’s power was limited, so the Brewers let him go, instead handing a $16-million, three-year deal to free agent Eric Thames.

“I wasn’t a part of that decision, but just thinking along with [the front office] it’s a read on what was available in the marketplace,” says Ash. “Why would we pay the kind of money we’re going to pay through the arbitration process when there’s certainly a number of choices at that position?”

That’s fair, but an argument can still be made that Carter is more of a known commodity, with seasons of 41, 37, 29 and 24 home runs in the majors. That sort of track record, even with Carter’s accompanying flaws, used to be valued more.

But league-wide home runs are easier to come by these days, a shift that may partially explain the diminished appeal of power bats. Last year, MLB hitters combined for 5610 homers, more than any year in baseball history except 2000—the height of MLB’s steroid era. While nobody exceeded Trumbo’s 47 homers in 2016, 111 players hit 20 or more, an average of nearly four per team. If Ryan Schimpf, Eugenio Suarez and Freddy Galvis are all 20-homer hitters (they are, believe it or not), then spending big bucks for someone who hits 30 may not be the no-brainer it once was.

“I don’t know that power is valued any less,” says one team executive, who asked not to be named. “Just that the skillset often comes with defensive limitations and those are now priced into the market in a way they haven’t been before.”

Statcast and other data streams have made assessments of players’ gloves much more reliable in recent years. Where front office execs may once have doubted defensive stats, they can now trust them.

That transition’s been especially apparent behind the plate. It took years for teams to really trust catcher-framing data, but now that they do, the market for backstops has changed demonstrably.

When Russell Martin obtained an $82-million guarantee in 2014, it seemed like a tacit endorsement of the value of pitch framing. Still, Martin would have been paid regardless given his on-base skills and power. But when Francisco Cervelli (who’s hit 18 home runs over nine MLB seasons) and Jason Castro (owner of a .309 career on-base percentage) got paid in 2016, it became impossible to deny that elite framers are better positioned than ever. One agent, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, estimated that Castro would have signed for something like $5 million on a one-year deal if numbers showed him to be a below-average framer. Instead, the Twins signed him for $24.5 million over three years.