BRONX PICKS UP ANOTHER BOMBER
National League MVP says winning a priority
National League MVP Giancarlo Stanton made it official Monday. He’ll join Aaron Judge in a power-packed New York Yankees outfield.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Now slugging for the Bronx Bombers, Giancarlo Stanton.
Stanton’s trade to the New York Yankees from Miami was finalized Monday, a deal that sent second baseman Starlin Castro and two minor leaguers to the Marlins for the NL MVP.
“They’re winners,” Stanton said during a news conference on the opening day of the winter meetings. “They’re young and they’re in a good position to win for a long time, and I lost for a long time. So I want to change that dynamic and be a winner.”
He joins a team that reached Game 7 of the AL Championship Series against Houston with a young roster that includes young sluggers Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Greg Bird. The Yankees expect top infield prospect Gleyber Torres to join the big league team next season.
“New York’s a marquee town, and I think it’s important to have some marquee players,” Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said. “But more important than that, I think it’s important to have veteran players that could be mentors for the young kids.”
Stanton, a 28-year-old who like Judge plays right field, is owed $295 million over the final decade of his record $325 million, 13-year contract. The Marlins, with former Yankees star Derek Jeter as their new CEO, will send $30 million to the Yankees if Stanton doesn’t exercise his right to opt out of the deal and become a free agent after the 2020 season: $5 million each on July 1 and Oct. 1 in 2026, 2027 and 2028. Under a change in baseball’s new labor contract, that money will be prorated for the luxury tax and Stanton will count as $22 million annually.
“I wouldn’t say sad day,” Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill said. “It’s a win-win for both sides. … I know Giancarlo made it clear midway through the 2017 season he didn’t want to be part of a rebuild.”
Stanton led the majors with 59 home runs and 132 RBIs last season. Judge was second in the majors with 52 homers, New York topped baseball with 241 home runs last season, and the daunting duo figures to create must-see BP before games. Stanton will keep his No. 27 jersey. His contract includes a no-trade provision, and last week he turned down prospective deals to St. Louis and San Francisco. He told the Marlins he was willing to accept trades only to the Yankees, his hometown Los Angeles Dodgers, the Astros and Chicago Cubs.
“I would have been putting it over the hump rather than jumping into a team already prepared to be there,” he said.
Having grown up in Southern California, going to the Giants was a particular difficultly.
“I wouldn’t base a decision off that, but also I wouldn’t want to go to a team that they disliked the most — and wasn’t sure if they were going to beat that team, either,” he said.
New York hasn’t had a losing record since 1992. The Marlins haven’t had a winning season since Stanton made his big league debut for them in 2010.
“He spends his Octobers in Europe,” said Stanton’s agent, Joel Wolfe. “It was killing him.”
JETER: Jeter says he had “no feelings” about trading Stanton to his former team and believes it was “the best deal” for the Marlins.
The Miami CEO, who skipped the Winter Meetings, said on a Monday conference call that there is nothing he would’ve done differently throughout the process. He added that Stanton wanted to leave the team.
“It gives us flexibility,” Jeter said of the deal that sent the 28-year-old slugging outfielder to the Yankees. “We’re trying to fix something that is broken. I’m just as impatient as the fans.”
Yankees GM Brian Cashman said Monday that he never dealt with Jeter during the Stanton talks, only Marlins president of baseball operations Michael Hill.
“I have no feelings about trading him to the Yankees,” Jeter told reporters. “It was the best deal for us.”
PHILLIES: A person familiar with the deal tells The Associated Press that freeagent relief pitcher Pat Neshek is returning to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Neshek will get a $16.5 million, twoyear contact pending a successful physical. The person spoke on condition of anonymity Monday because there was no official announcement on the agreement.
STALLARD DIES: Tracy Stallard, the pitcher who gave up Roger Maris’ record 61st home run in 1961, has died. He was 80.
He was on the mound for Boston in 1961 when Maris broke the single-season record that Babe Ruth had held since 1927. The record stayed until 1998.
Stallard went 30-57 with a 4.17 career ERA while pitching for the Red Sox (1960-62), New York Mets (1963-64) and St. Louis Cardinals (1965-66).