Giancarlo Stanton is a larger than life ballplayer for the Yankees. Controversial since the day he arrived here, is it time just to let him be – and see…
Giancarlo Stanton, in the overall scheme of things about Yankees planning, is an accident. The crescendo of rumors revolving around Stanton, Yankees fans will recall, reached staggering heights in the early days and weeks of the 2017 offseason.
He’s going here, and he’s going there – no, wait a minute it looks like Team X is in the lead to capture the National League’s MVP of the 2016 season in the aftermath of an ownership transition in Miami.
Derek Jeter is in, and Jeffrey Loria is out, leaving Jeter & Partners with an unsustainable contract awarded to Giancarlo Stanton that was signed, sealed, and delivered by the Commissioner of Baseball, Rob Manfred.
No one is privy to the details, but it was on a lark that Yankees GM Brian Cashman found himself engaged in a conversation with Jeter that consummated a deal, making Giancarlo Stanton a New York Yankee.
The line listed under MLB Transactions looks like this: December 11, 2017: Giancarlo Stanton Traded by the Miami Marlins to the New York Yankees for Jose Devers (minors), Jorge Guzman (minors) and Starlin Castro.
The world of baseball shook with claims and questions pronouncing the “Evil Empire” is back, and who can stop the Yankees now?
Yankees Evil Empire Is Back
Stanton, Aaron Judge, and Gary Sanchez all lined up in a pretty row? It was too much to dream about, though we did.
Unfortunately, reality intervened, and we can almost count on our fingers the times when all three appeared on the field at the same time.
And even when they did, the results were less than remarkable, especially in the postseason.
Giancarlo Stanton delivered a decent season for the Yankees in 2018. However, when measured against expectations and his previous MVP numbers, ho-hum, “What else do you have?” thinking prevailed in the Yankee’s inner circle and amongst fans.
When You Hit The Bottom…
The sky for Giancarlo Stanton, as we know, fell last season when injury after injury prevailed, leaving him on the sidelines for all but 18 games.
Stanton’s efforts, while never questioned, included a last-gasp but failing attempt to contribute during the Yankees all-important postseason in which he produced three hits in eighteen tries with a lone home run.
So, that’s the history as we move forward to another season in which the Yankees are chasing their first world title in more than a decade.
Say what we want about Giancarlo Stanton’s inability to deliver and live up to his contract for the Yankees – but a closer looks reveal a player who is quite the opposite of what we believe.
Stanton’s career splits from Baseball-Reference depict a player who bats .280 with a .360 on-base percentage with runners in scoring position.
Moreover, Giancarlo Stanton has hit two-thirds of his career home run in that game situation (191 of 308).
Yankees And Stanton: Let’s All Regroup
I’ll be the last person to suggest that Brian Cashman should have made this deal. And it behooves me to believe Stanton is not a Dodger or Angel, safely ensconced in his home territory of the West Coast via a trade tendered by Cashman somewhere along the line.
But the fact is the Yankees are a far better team with “Giancarlo Stanton” in their lineup.
And maybe it’s time to back off a bit to let it be, and to provide some breathing room for Stanton.
And that even the trumped-up “predictions” coming from Brian Cashman that Stanton is going to have a “monster year” for the Yankees are unnecessary and even counterproductive.
There’s enough pressure for a player wearing the pinstripes in New York without the added hype attached to an Aaron Judge, and now Gerrit Cole tacked on.
If Giancarlo Stanton has another year as he did last year when he was unable to stay on the field, we have a whole other discussion.
But aside from that scenario, let’s see what happens if we just – let him be.
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
