He stems, of course, not from Charles Dickens, but from the mind of Brian Cashman, and he will define the GM's career legacy. Cashman traded for Giancarlo Stanton in 2018, the winter after Stanton won the National League MVP award. The Yankees paid a seemingly minor price for what was then baseball's premier slugger - never questioning why the Marlins, run by Derek Jeter, were so desperate to let him go.
In the summer before his trade, Stanton hit 59 HRs, drove in 132 runs and compiled an OPS of 1.007. He led the NL in almost every category of consequence. Ever since, he's shown flourishes of greatness, while surfing an endless list of injuries. In the combined seasons of 2019 and 2020, he hit a total of 7 homers. Seven.
Last fall, he briefly excited the Yankiverse, belting 7 HRs in 14 postseason games. Once again, he raised expectations. I mean, the guy stole a base!
Welp, so much for that. With two tennis elbows - who suffers two tennis elbows? - Stanton has become the 2025 Yankees Babadook - a grim presence who strikes out, hits into DPs, and who has leaves a gaping generational hole in the center of its lineup. Going into the second half, you wonder if the Yankees have any game plan beyond just playing Stanton and hoping for a miracle. And that plan looks increasingly dead.
The all-star break will soon be here. The Yankees will probably hit it in 2nd or 3rd place, struggling to stay afloat. Stanton will probably remain in the middle of every lineup, because the Yankees have no other option. Eight years after his arrival, everything still revolves around that godforsaken contract, which Jeter shed and Cashman swallowed.
Stanton remains under contract through 2027. The following winter, the Yankees will surely exercise a $10 million buyout option. Stanton will go away, and his entire NY career might be defined by the lack of a world series ring.
It's sad, if you think about it. I believe most Yank fans have come to view Stanton as a tragic figure, a player whose potential greatness was crushed by injuries, by factors beyond his control. You can't blame a guy for tennis elbows. But Stanton cannot stay healthy, and right now, he cannot hit. Upon his arrival, the first place Yankees began to unravel. It's not his fault. But soon, Cashman will have to make an ugly decision, with his legacy on the line.
The same applies to DJLM, and will also to Judge and Cole in a very few years. Hell, Cole might already be through. Spreading out payments to players until they’re deep into their thirties makes sense to avoid the CBT, but the real penalty comes with having to eat the last few years of a player’s contract. Do you think the Dodgers and Mets will hesitate to do so with Ohtani and Soto?
ReplyDeleteIf I owned the Mets or Dodgers Ohtani/Soto would be clipping my hedges before I would let them go....
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ReplyDeleteAs much as we all wish we could get rid of Cashman and Boone--and Hal, too--Bleeding Yankee Blue has identified another major detriment to the team: Michael Fishman. And he does seem to be a fish (that's what we called an incompetent athlete when I was a teen ager).
He's the guy that Cashman relies on for his statistical analysis, with no baseball judgment or instinct involved. Pure numbers are a big part of why we remain pure shit in the championship category.
If Stanton has never been on PEDs, I take back what I'm about to say. But you know how guys who quit the juice tend to physically fall apart and become riddled with injuries? Just saying. Wouldn't be the first time.
For some reason, I couldn't post a comment from either of my computers. Kept getting an error message. Worked on the phone, though. Weird.
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ReplyDeleteThat similar batters list would make a hell of a team. I'd lose Kingman though. The other guys were better hitters in general.
ReplyDeleteThey could call them selves "The Derbies" (After the Home Run Derby) and wear derbies instead of baseball caps.
All they'd need are pitchers with insane K rates because they wouldn't be able to field any ground balls not hit right at them.
Too bad Eddie Feigner played softball.
You’ve hit the nail on the head JM!
ReplyDeleteFishman is the head of the Yankees Strat-O-Matic analytics department. It’s all about numbers to him and the clown who hired him. That’s why the Yankees wind up with older players: statistics are based on history and have no relevance to the present. This assistant clown Fishman also believes that any ballplayer can play any position. Need a 3B? We got a guy who can play 2B - he should be good over at the hot corner!
So now we have two clowns running the show and as long as the money keeps rolling in, who cares about winning?
I'd rather wait for godot.
ReplyDeleteFrom YGY:
ReplyDelete“Aaron Boone announced on the Talkin' Yanks podcast that Chisholm Jr. would be moving back to his natural position of second base effective immediately.”
Chisolm is dealing with a sore throwing shoulder, perhaps that was the impetus.
Whither 3rd base? Peraza, he of the .150 BA? Is a deal in the works? Many of us scoffed at Chase Headly, who would be a savior now.
It can't go on. It'll go on.
ReplyDeleteLove a good Godot skein! (And is there ever a bad one?)
ReplyDeleteJM, you're exactly right about Fishman. There's long been a debate here about whether Cashman relies too much on analytics or whether he and his minions don't understand them, and I think the answer is...both.
The Yanks in general have all the worst traits of the analytics-dominated team: lousy fundamentals and fielding, no game smarts, no ability to adjust to different situations, etc...
But this guy doesn't even show up to practice:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=allen-000ive
Doug, the amazing thing here is that every player on that list who is "comparable" to Stanton could at least play the field—some of them, such as Rocky Colavito—quite well.
ReplyDeleteI would put Stanton in that "tragic," Mattingly category...except that every indication is that JM is right, and that Stanton is a classic juicer. Whether his incessant injuries were caused by excessive workouts that the juice enabled, or whether his body collapsed once he got off the stuff...either way, he is a fraud, who has taken not only the Steinbrenners' money (who cares, they have more than enough of it), but also ours, as the fans and taxpayers of New York—under false pretenses.
Had he done something similar with finances, he would be in jail right now. The Yankees should have long ago acknowledged this and cut him loose.
But again: the HAL philosophy is "double-bad." That is, we must keep playing those men who prove to be bad investments long after it's clear they can no longer play, so that they cannot only take his money, but also hurt his product.
It's almost like he believes it's some kind of punishment he is doling out. "Too old and juiced-out to play baseball well, eh? Well then, everyone can watch you play it BADLY! That'll teach you never to do THAT again!"
And Doug, just to finish our jawing from yesterday: yes, for some reason, third base has always been the most difficult position to fill—though that seems to be changing now (just not for your New York Yankees):
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mlb.com/news/third-basemen-underrepresented-in-hall-of-fame
Here is my comment that Hoss is referring to
ReplyDelete"I don't know. I guess the real question, aside from why can't the Yankees draft/train a decent 3B in the ENTIRE course of Cashman's tenure (A mind blowing concept!) is why are there so few good ones out there?
MLB has access to pretty much ALL the players in the world. Even the ones from Japan are starting to come over more frequently as well so how come there aren't 32 players IN THE WORLD that can handle 3B well? Weird right?"
But Doug, third base is so hard. And it has a much higher temperature than the rest of the field. That's why it's called the Hot Corner. A lot of people don't know that.
ReplyDeleteNettles should be in the HOF. Other positions are judged against their positional peers but strangely not third basemen. As far as Stanton is concerned. First this idea that Jeter fleeced Cashman while in twisted sense is emotionally satisfying is without merit. Stanton had just put up some crazy numbers as the NL MVP. He didn't have an alarming injury history so... His injury history, yeah it could have come from too much weight lifting, but he simply might have joints that wear out earlier than most, it happens. The man is is still crazy strong, he just hit a 118 mph double the other night. So he MUST still be on steroids, right? IMHO he's simply a big, strong man who has lifted for many years. If he actually needed the goods then he's still on them. The thing with foods is that the results aren't black or white. A guy like Jeter for example could have been on them for years but took a type which adds strength versus size, and used a lower dose. I've lifted in six different decades, seen some interesting things...
ReplyDeleteInteresting thought about Nettles, Kevin.
ReplyDeleteAs for Stanton, yes, it was mostly a salary dump. Jeter thought he was in the midst of a total rebuild of the Marlins, only to find that his "partner" was in it for a quick profit and re-sale. I'm sure he's still pissed off about it.
But it was Cashman who made this into a game of who's fooling who (whom?), by having one of his hagiographers, Bob Klapisch, write a quick book basically trashing Jeter and praising Cashman's GM skills to the skies.
To me, few things better illustrate Cashie's greater stupidity. If you're a brilliant GM who thinks he has a patsy with some other club, why on earth would you broadcast that? Why wouldn't you just say, hey, that Jeter is a smart baseball guy and get ready to pick his pocket the next time out?
The reason, of course, is that Cashman—WEIRDLY—still had a grudge against Jeter from their earlier salary negotiations, which Cashie made sure to go to the press with, and brag about how he had cut Jeets down to size. Finishing him, of course, with the brilliant remark that he could have brought Troy Tulowitzki in to replace him.
To me, "Troy Tulowitski" should be inscribed on the little twerp's headstone. But the bigger question, of course, is WTF do you have a grudge against someone YOU personally set out to humiliate?...
...As to the question of whether or not he should have known Stanton was juicing, well, he sure as hell looked like a juicer. And with a major juicer who has no other real skills beyond power hitting, you have to know you're taking a risk—even then. Maybe the juicer's body breaks down, maybe he goes off the juice, once he's got the contract he wants and the city he wants.
ReplyDeleteAnd that might be okay. Being a good GM means taking some risks. But again, there's all sorts of hemming and hawing here. Such-and-such is too big a risk, can't do that sort of money, too many years. And then, rather than just concede the back end of the contract when the player breaks down, Cashman—and Hal—keep trotting him out there anyway...
Hoss, I agree with you completely, never knock a business patsy, NO.MATTER WHAT. And you are right about Cashman carrying a grudge. IMHO, totally misplaced, and a telling character flaw which makes him unsuitable to hold such a powerful position. It's true that Stanton "looks" to be a juicer, but he has a huge frame, thick limbs and long muscle bellies. He could be real. After all, D. Ortiz used to brag that his strength came from rice and beans. He didn't have the typical juicer "look" but of course he was. He couldn't make the Twins lineup because of a slow bat when he was twenty-seven, and then suddenly...🤔
DeleteAs for the juicing stuff, that's very interesting, Kevin. I've never lifted (or juiced :)), so I'll take your word for it that Jeter might have done so.
ReplyDeleteBut there were none of the tell-tale signs. He did not grow suddenly huge and musclebound, his power did not sharply increase, his head size did not grow (a la Barry Bonds), his game declined in a fairly normal fashion, he kept playing his same, non-power game (looping hits to the opposite field, etc.), and no one has ever come forward to say that they saw him or helped him to juice.
I think without any of that, we have to assume players are innocent.
Cantrun was tainted goods.
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