YANKS NEED A SHOT OF J.D.
Stanton must start hitting like Boston’s slugger
Over the last few weeks Giancarlo Stanton has started to look more like the reigning National League MVP than the guy who spent the first couple of months as a Yankee chasing pitches, looking lost at the plate and getting booed in the Bronx.
Yet, he still hasn’t hit one of those stretches that Aaron Boone keeps predicting where Stanton will launch home runs faster than you can count them, and carry the offense on his back.
Well, here’s where the Yankees need him to be that guy.
Indeed, with the Red Sox in town, throwing three lefthanded starters over the weekend — no small detail, to be sure — this is where Stanton has to leave an imprint if he wants to win over the fans and live up to the hype that came with his arrival, not to mention his huge contract.
In other words, he needs to do what J.D. Martinez has done for the Sox.
Remarkably, Martinez looks like a bargain, having signed for five years, $125 million, especially in comparison to the 10 years and $235 million (out of $295 million total) the Yankees picked up on Stanton’s deal in the trade with the Marlins.
And considering that Red Sox GM Dave Dombrowski took a lot of heat in Boston throughout the winter for not getting involved in the Stanton sell-off from the Marlins, it’s fair to ask why Brian Cashman didn’t see Martinez as a more cost-efficient alternative for the Yankees.
Stanton’s star power was certainly a factor, considering that his acquisition last winter, and the pairing of him and Aaron Judge, raised the buzz around the Yankees to a level not seen since Alex Rodriguez joined forces with Derek Jeter in 2004. And sold plenty of tickets as well.
Still, to this point Martinez has had far more impact on his new team than Stanton, providing the power bat the Red Sox were missing last season in the wake of David Ortiz’s retirement, as they finished last in the league in home runs.
Now, Martinez is not only leading the AL in long balls, but he is the first player in Sox history to hit 25 by the end of June, putting him on a pace that would give him a shot at breaking Ortiz’s single-season team record of 54.
Most astonishing, the Sox slugger has hit 70 home runs in 820 plate appearances over the last two seasons, after hitting 45 last year for the Tigers and Diamondbacks despite being limited by injuries to 119 games played.
He’s also hitting .329, which is fourth in the AL, and leading the league with 64 RBIs, so he’s very much an MVP candidate, along with his own teammate, Mookie Betts and others.
And considering that Martinez has been putting up impressive numbers for the last four seasons, the only real surprise is that more teams weren’t bidding on the 30year-old outfielder in the offseason, allowing the Sox to wait out the market and sign him in early February for a lot less than the $200 million Scott Boras was predicting his client would get.
“He’s not a good outfielder,” a long-time scout said Thursday, “and GMs don’t value power as much as they used to, but it’s still puzzling that he didn’t get more action (as a free agent). He’s not just a home run guy — he’s a pure hitter with power. He’s made a world of difference for Boston.”
Stanton hasn’t had nearly that type of impact for the Yankees, but at least he’s gotten hot enough in June to quiet the questions about whether he should ditch his closed stance, questions that were clearly beginning to irritate the new guy.
Over the last four weeks he has hit .306 with eight home runs and a .975 OPS, and over the last two he’s hitting .380 with an eye-popping 1.139 OPS.
Yet hurdles remain for Stanton. He’s still only hitting .215 at home, vs. .314 on the road, so the possibility remains that he continues to press at Yankee Stadium, perhaps because the fans have booed him when he fails to deliver in a big moment.
You would think his walkoff home run against the Mariners last week, as well as his improved overall per-
formance, would buy him some goodwill, but I doubt fans will have much patience if he strikes out a bunch of times this weekend against the Red Sox.
After all, as well as the Yankees are playing, they can’t shake the Sox, and find themselves a half-game behind them in the AL East going into this series.
They have plenty of offense even without Stanton, but the fact that he has killed lefthanded pitching this season puts the spotlight on him, as the Red Sox are starting Eduardo Rodriguez, Chris Sale and David Price in the three games.
Although he hasn’t chased as much against righthanders lately, there’s a stark contrast in his statistics.
Against lefties Stanton is hitting .351 with an .881 slugging percentage and 10 home runs in only 87 plate appearances. Against righthanders he’s hitting .236 with a .404 slugging percentage and nine home runs in 354 plate appearances.
Since this is the hottest he has been all season, Stanton really needs to do some damage this weekend. This race with the Sox is probably going the distance, but the Yankees aren’t going to win it without Stanton having a huge impact at some point.
Or, in other words, doing what Martinez is doing for the Red Sox.