For Giancarlo, the end is here, aside from the existential questions

Samuel Beckett must have been a Yank fan. Because here we are - once again, and for all of eternity - waiting for Godot Gio. And - spoiler alert: He's not coming. 

As we all know by now, Giancarlo Stanton this week tweaked his good leg, plunging himself back into the Yankee Limbo of the Lost, his hot tubbed home since April. The Yankees claim he might return in September. Ha ha. We know otherwise. 

He's toast. 

Next time we see him will be mid-February. He'll arrive in Tampa in a swirl of ink and ether. The Gammonites will assemble, and he'll toss out quotes like shelled peanuts to a murder of crows. He'll say he spent the winter working to improve his flexibility and prevent injuries. And for the 11th straight spring, they'll peck at the ground and chew. Meanwhile, we will ponder his existential questions.

1. Will Giancarlo return? 

Nope. Why drag this out? The Yankees will owe him only $15 million next year. That's clam dip money. (The Marlins will pay $10 million.) They can buy him out for 2028, and our long national Yankee nightmare will be over. 

2. Could he return elsewhere?

Maybe. He might even bat in a Grapefruit game, auditioning for the Angels, Marlins, Padres or any team that might take him in a city where he wants to play. He's earned that shot. But the Yankees do not - and will not - need a fulltime DH who is always one step away from the glue factory. They will have no place for him. (I assume he wouldn't go for the Mets or Boston, but sometimes, when longtime stars hit their twilight, things do get acrimonious.) 

3. Does Giancarlo belong in the Hall? 

Nah. I'm sorry. He comes close, sorta. But he needed one last big year - he's 44 HRs shy of 500, just 17 RBIs below 1,200. Baseball Reference publishes several graphics on chances for Cooperstown. On all of them, as you can see, Giancarlo falls short.

Moreover, his time in NYC produced nothing that matters. (Translation: No ring.) And though he had a couple nice playoff games, his .254 postseason BA doesn't leap out. 

Maybe 20 years from now, a doddering Veterans Committee votes him in. But we won't live to see it, and unless he gets heathy, Giancarlo might not, as well.  

4. Did the Yankees win the trade to bring him to NY? 

Yes. Definitely. We gave up Starlin Castro, Jorge Guzman and Jose Devers. None turned out to matter. So, yeah. We won. Whoopie.  (But all that money we spent? It tied us up for a decade. Imagine the free agents we missed.)

4. Was he a great Yankee? 

Yeah, I guesso, sorta, anways... He should get something - a plaque or maybe a vending machine - in Monument Park. They should give him a final Bobblehead Night and present him with a fully-charged grampa scooter. He can fly around the bases.

He deserves a shot on the YES team. Could he be a batting coach? They say he commands respect in the clubhouse. There might be a role for him to play, and I hope the Yankees treat him with dignity. (Unless he joins the Mets. In that case, open the Epstein files.)

Sad day, overall. But honestly, he's done, and it feels as if a big stone has been lifted. I wish him the best. He'll never swing a bat for us in a real game again. Samuel Beckett saw the future. We were always just living it out. The Giancarlo show is over. Somebody, buy me a drink.