At some point, Giancarlo Stanton needs to start playing the outfield

The greatest home run hitter in history, the late Henry Aaron, played all but two of his 23 seasons in the National League, without the bean chair comfort of the DH. (He finished with the Brewers, who were then in the AL, before retiring at age 42.) When the stresses of age threatened Henry's body, he moved from LF to 1B. He was always out there, playing both ways.

Likewise, the all-time HR leader, Barry Bonds, played his entire career in the NL. In his twilight - 1999, at age 34 - he played DH in a few interleague games. When he retired in 2007, age 42, I count 38 games overall as DH. (Note: We can mock Bonds for steroids and his weather balloon noggin, but give the man his due: He played defense, all the way. Had he been a DH in the AL, he might still be playing.) 

Which brings me to Giancarlo Stanton, our full-time DH at the nubile age of 31. (Actually, he's been more or less a fulltime DH since he left Miami, at 28. Last year, he didn't play a game in the outfield.) 

As we all know - from ripping out hair - the Death Barge will cohabitate with Stanton until 2028 - if humankind is still here - when he is 38, for about $30 million per season. Okay, cue the music: IT'S A DEATH TRAP, IT'S A SUICIDE RAP, TRAMPS LIKE CASH, BLAH-BLAH-BLAH...  let's skip the primal scream... but the worst of this is how it lashes us to Stanton for most of the decade. He'll sit in the dugout while everyone else fends for himself. Soon, Luke Voit will return - but with no easy day at DH. Nope, that's Giancarlo's job! What happens when Aaron Judge inevitably strains a tenderloin and needs a half-day off? Well, nothing happens. That's Giancarlo's role, until the rivers run backward. 

Look, I get it why the Yanks made Stanton the permanent DH. He's a walking hospital ward. Also, unlike Aaron and Bonds, he's a goon in LF - a threat to nearby players and walls. But encasing him in bubbled plastic won't work. Just watch: He'll soon tear open a hickey while running to first. And having a full-time DH threatens our 2021 chances.

We desperately need LH bats. (Thank you, Hicksie and Odor, for making yesterday's blog entry - whining about the LH malaise - look bad.) One remedy: Sign a lefty DH. (Our original intent with Jay Bruce.) But with Stanton locked down in the position, we have no flexibility... for the next seven years?  

Listen: Stanton will get hurt. Bird gotta fly, fish gotta swim. It won't matter what he's doing. Something will zing, or pop, or bark, and he'll disappear for a month. You can't kill the boogie man. And you can't mollify the juju gods. They're bastards.

And here's the dirtiest little secret of all: Between now and 2028, at some point, the Yankees will conclude that having Stanton as a fulltime DH is simply not worth it. To save the team, he'll need to play OF or 1B.  (Also, they won't be able to dish him off to an NL team, if he's spent five years in the dugout.)

I don't mean to bash Giancarlo. He's not dogging it. He's a good teammate. And remember... we do not blame a player for: 

a) getting old
b) getting hurt on the job
c) having a social conscience (whether we agree with him or not
d) negotiating a good contract for his family. 

I just think the Yankees should challenge Giancarlo. Let him play the OF, now and then. It frees us to make moves. And last night notwithstanding, we still need a lefty bat.

Look, Giancarlo is not Henry Aaron. But he doesn't have to be Smokey Burgess.