RAISE THE BAR
Expectations will be sky high for outsider Stanton’s season
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The 1,561,347th way in which Hal Steinbrenner differs from his old man is this:
The Yankees’ current boss does not subscribe to the “grass is greener” philosophy. He does not yearn for what he does not have. George Steinbrenner, may he rest in peace, always played the role of Jack Nicholson’s Joker in “Batman,” eyeing his opponent and wondering, “Where does he get those wonderful toys?”
So Hal Steinbrenner can appreciate as much as anyone the challenge his new acquisition faces in joining the best-liked Yankees team in a generation. Welcome to The Bronx, Giancarlo Stanton. Now get right to work, no growing pains allowed.
“Well, I know the city we’re in, and I know that our fans love the big, marquee players, but we also learned this year that our fans love every bit as much homegrown players that they can follow over the course of years and finally get up to the varsity and really perform,” Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ managing general partner, said Monday at a Winter Meetings news conference to announce his team’s acquisition of Stanton from the Marlins. “So I think that’s equally exciting. If [Stanton’s celebrity] is a factor in my thinking, it’s probably a small one, but this is New York City. These are the Yankees.”
Think of how Yankees fans hung with Greg Bird, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino and other drafted (or signed internationally) and developed guys and how joyful it felt at Yankee Stadium last October, when that group grew up quickly to take the Yankees to Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. Watch the love any Core Four member or Bernie Williams receives when he shows up at the Stadium. It’s just different when you come up through an organization’s system.
Stanton tried to carve his own such path by signing a record-setting, 13-year, $325 million extension with his Marlins three years ago. If you want to fault him for making such a huge commitment to a dumpster fire, go ahead — but you try turning down that kind of money. He secured him- self a no-trade clause to control his destiny for the inevitable parting of ways. If Stanton probably never envisioned being just as turned off by a new Marlins ownership group headlined by Core Four supreme leader Derek Jeter as he was by the hierarchy that guaranteed him the huge dollars, well, who was it that once said life is like a box of chocolates because you never know what you’re gonna get?
So Stanton winds up a Yankee, throwing well-deserved shade at the Marlins as he departs South Florida, and with that comes new pressure. Like Alex Rodriguez, the last reigning Most Valuable Player the Yankees received in a trade, he’ll be expected to produce out of the gate.
“I think it’s going to be a fun, new dynamic, but at the same time, it’s baseball,” Stanton said. “So I understand there will be some ups and downs, and I’ll have to deal with that on a bigger scale, but it’s the same game I played down in Miami.”
The ideal situation for the Yankees calls for Stanton to thrive over the next three seasons, leading his new team to a championship or three, then opt out after 2020 as his contract allows and sign with his hometown Dodgers. Given that this contract pays Stanton at least $218 million from 2021 through 2027 (with the Marlins set to pay $30 million of that amount), that seems unlikely.
The best deals of this length, though, go to players you already know, with whom you’ve lived and persevered through tough times. Like Jeter in 2001. Or maybe some of these Baby Bombers if they stay healthy and productive.
Instead, Steinbrenner and the Yankees decided this other side’s grass looked pretty darn green. They know the bar gets raised for such a player. On the bright side, if Stanton can clear that bar, he’ll get plenty of love from his new fans.