Yet another year in which Giancarlo Stanton misses most of the games the Yankees have played. There are moves in which Brian Cashman looks like a genius, and then there are Jacoby Ellsbury and Stanton. At the end of the 2017 season, the Yankees lost in Game 7 of the ALCS to the Houston Astros.
Trade For Stanton
Failure to score with runners in scoring position against the trash can bangers killed the Yankees that series. So what does GM Cashman do? Goes and lets Derek Jeter FINESSE the Yankees in a trade for Stanton. Instead of getting another high average hitter like DJ LeMahieu, Cashman gets Mr. Strikeout himself, Stanton. Who not only comes in and immediately sets a new strikeout record for a Yankee (211). Stanton then proceeded to miss a total of 172 games out of a possible 204. Due to this weird recurring hamstring injury, damn Stanton, do you know how to stretch?
The IL is Stanton’s Second Home
Stanton practically missed the entire 2019 season and now in a COVID shortened 2020 season, it doesn’t take long before Stanton pulls that hamstring again. Stanton’s strikeout rate seems to keep climbing the more he plays. This time the replacement Yankees aren’t cutting it. The team has dropped 16 out of the last 20, and look dead in the water, with sharks circling. The Yankees losing is not Stanton’s problem alone, I get that, but he is a big part of the problem. That 325 million dollar contract isn’t looking any better Stanton’s contract is creeping up on the likes of Ellsbury and Kei Igawa. The Yankees should move Stanton as best they can and use the money to extend DJ, someone that actually plays and plays well.
The Yankees need to consider moving Stanton for peanuts or just flat out cut him if they ever want to win a World Series again. Spending all that money on a guy that doesn’t play the field hogs the DH spot when he does play and has been living on the IL for the past two seasons; it just isn’t a winning formula. Should Stanton decide he wants to play again, he should work on stretching out that hamstring before he even leaves his house.
