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Major League Baseball’s biggest first-half and all-star break story was Shohei Ohtani. And that story begins with a new Angels front office that lifts restrictions on right-handed and left-handed feeling.
They wanted to see what they had. They wanted an answer to the question of what exactly they had. Launcher? Hitter? Both? Or? The only way to learn was to take off the handcuffs. Ohtani had suffered injuries in his first three seasons in the major leagues, even with multiple attachments. Overprotecting him wasn’t working.
The Angels therefore let a colt run and the results were spectacular. For the Yankees, this should be informative.
Being the best team it can be, both in the future and in this appalling season, means putting Giancarlo Stanton in the outfield at least a few days a week. If it breaks down, then it breaks down. Stanton often broke down even with a bubble treatment, much the same as Ohtani before this season.
Maybe you could understand that Stanton wasn’t playing the outfield when the Yankees were trying to find out if Jay Bruce had anything left. Or when just Aaron Hicks was lost to injury. Or before Mike Tauchman was traded. Or when Brett Gardner showed he couldn’t offer much offensive impact anymore. But now Clint Frazier and Miguel Andujar are out, as is Aaron Judge. The Yankees faced infielders Andujar and Tyler Wade in the outfield and seemed more likely to remove Paul O’Neill from the broadcast booth than to deploy Stanton.
Desperately in need of wins, the Yankees’ starting field on Friday against the first-place Red Sox was Gardner, Tim Locastro and Trey Amburgey, with Stanton as the designated hitter – and it was the right formation because there simply was no no other bat to justify as DH to put Stanton in the outfield for the first time since playing left field against the Astros in ALCS Game 1 in 2019.
But before the break, the Yankees’ best formation against the righties would have been Rougned Odor in second, DJ LeMahieu at the start, Luke Voit DHing, Stanton in left field and Gardner as a defensive caddy late in the game. That smell would improve the roster’s lineup so much in 2021. Nonetheless, it was reality, although it never happened.
Now the Yankees are aiming for three games in Miami (July 30-August 1), in which there will be no DH, for Stanton’s debut on the field. This falls into the category to be believed when you see it, as the Yankees talk like they’re trying to prepare Stanton for a daily triathlon rather than possibly playing nine innings in the outfield. Also, by then, it could fall into the “why bother?” ” trash can. The trade deadline is July 30 and the Yankees can be sellers, so why even risk Stanton’s body? What we do know is that before that, they can’t even try to buy, say, Nelson Cruz from Minnesota to try and reignite the offense because Stanton is clogging up the role of DH.
Plus, Derek Jeter might just be laughing watching Stanton play outfield. After all, Stanton played a career-high 149 games in the outfield while winning the 2017 National League MVP. Jeter, then the Marlins’ fledgling CEO, complained that he sold his star this offseason for two lottery ticket prospects and Starlin Castro, while having to pay the Yankees $ 30 million. This is his administration’s best decision yet – could you imagine Stanton on his expensive contract becoming a DH only in a non-DH league?
It’s also one of the worst jobs in Brian Cashman’s tenure as general manager for the Yankees. The Yankees failed to land Ohtani and quickly turned to the Stanton deal, which now looks like original sin by making the roster too fair, too un-athletic, and too rigid. Stanton is an offensively rollercoaster, with blazing hot streaks and extended cold streaks in which he misses as many shots as any hitter in the sport. On Friday, when an exhausted formation needed his power, Stanton ran in a double play and then struck out three strikes.
Subtract what the Marlins pay, and the Yankees owe Stanton seven years at $ 159 million after this season. If universal DH is included in the next collective agreement, could the Yankees eat enough money to find a taker? Would Stanton give up his no-trade clause (he refused trade with San Francisco and St. Louis before being distributed to the Yankees)? Could the Yankees strike a long-term deal with Judge, a free agent after next season, not knowing whether or not there would be a lot of DH bats for him if his big body slows down to the point where he can’t? manage the right field every day?
That’s why, at least in part, the Yankees need to know if Stanton, who turns 32 in November, could at least manage the outfield two or three times a week. They need a roster with more flexibility and therefore a DH that is not fixed.
If Stanton breaks, he breaks. But it’s not as if the bubble wrap treatment has worked.
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