Stanton: Any bad blood
DETROIT — It doesn’t sound like Derek Jeter will even need to send a gift basket in order to mend fences with Giancarlo Stanton. Despite their contentious dealings before Stanton was traded from Miami to New York, the Yankees’ star slugger says there’s no tension between them from his perspective. “I mean, I don’t think there’s any crazy bad blood besides what (the media) stirred up,” Stanton said Sunday, a day prior to his first regular-season game against his former team. Weather permitting, the Yankees and Marlins will play a twogame set in the Bronx Monday and Tuesday. “I mean, we were very honest with each other in our meetings — and that’s the business side of it — but there’s no bad blood on this side.”
Jeter, who went from Yankee captain to Marlins owner, recently told reporters he wouldn’t be coming to Yankee Stadium this week to root on the opposition.
“It would be an awkward situation for me to actually go to Yankee Stadium,” Jeter said. “I knew it was going to be a story one way or the other, so I might as well get out in front of it and say I’m not going.”
Jeter hasn’t been back since he got his No. 2 retired and a plaque in Monument Park last May.
“That’s entirely up to him. I don’t read into it that much,” said Jeter’s old teammate, Aaron Boone. “Sure, I could see how it’s awkward. But I also understand he’s one of the greatest Yankees ever. It’s a unique situation — an (owner) of another club that’s an iconic figure with our organization. I’m not going to speak for Derek as far as his feelings towards it. I can’t relate to that.”
Regardless of how Stanton
DETROIT — Gleyber Torres’ Triple-A numbers continue to jump off the page, begging the question: Is it possible that he could be promoted to the Yankees this week?
“Possible, yes. Likely? Not necessarily,” Aaron Boone said Sunday.
After posting two hits and three RBI on Saturday, Torres upped his batting average with Triple-A Scranton to .389 (14-for-36). He also has 10 RBI in his first nine minor-league games.
The 21-year-old super prospect, who has been getting starts at second base and third base, is eligible to be called up starting Wednesday, with the Bombers getting an extra year of team control.
And top Yankees’ talent evaluator Tim Naehring has been with the Triple-A club recently keeping a close eye on Torres — only fueling the idea it could happen sooner than later.
Especially with Tyler Wade scuffling, Brandon Drury injured and Miguel Andujar — who did have two extra-base hits Friday — also not producing much at the plate.
But Boone made it clear that the team wants to be 100 percent sure Torres is ready when they bring him to the big leagues. Because once they do that, there’s no turning back.
Therefore, the Bombers could potentially want feels about how the events leading up to his blockbuster trade to New York were portrayed, it sure seemed ugly between the former Miami slugger and Jeter.
Stanton told Jeter when he took over and they met that he felt the Marlins were close to contention if they added a couple pitchers. But Jeter didn’t feel the same way — ultimately deciding on a fire sale. So Jeter told Stanton, who had a full no-trade clause, he could either pick between San Francisco or St. Louis — two teams the Marlins had come to terms with on trades — or stay in Miami and watch as all of his teammates were dealt.
But Stanton had all the power — and the Marlins ultimately traded him to the Yankees for Starlin Castro and a pair of prospects. The Bombers are set to pay $265 million of the $295 million owed to him over the next decade — if he doesn’t opt out.
“This is not going to go how you guys think it will go,” him to get more ABs before feeling comfortable.
“I think there’s a lot that goes into it as far as evaluating him,” Boone said. “We see he’s getting a couple hits a game, but is he where we think we want him to be physically? Is he having the at-bats we want him to have to where he’s ready to come up and impact us?
“And with a guy that we think is going to be such an important part of our organization for a long time, we want to feel really good that he’s in a really good place when we do bring him here,” Boone continued.
“Because he’s not a guy that we want to just pull up to plug a hole for a second and get back and forth at all. We want him to be in a good place so when he comes up here he can impact our club for the long haul.”
Boone has been watching a lot of video on Torres himself.
“I think he’s playing well,” Boone said. “I think the last couple days have been better. I’ve been watching a lot of his at-bats. He’s been getting his hits early, but I don’t think he was locked in by any means. To see him playing well, healthy and off to a good start is something we certainly take notice of and we’re watching closely.”
Boone said the Yankees would like to keep Torres in one spot positionally when he comes up. But his versatility is a nice asset just in case something happens.