BIG STAN’ ON CAMPUS
Giancarlo makes k early arrival with winning on mind
New Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton entered camp on Friday, saying he’s looking forward to the “fun new ride.”
TAMPA — Minutes after freezing everybody else in the Yankees’ clubhouse by simply walking through the door, Giancarlo Stanton said the upcoming season shouldn’t be viewed as “Two Men With Big Bats and 23 Others.’’
“We can’t be worried about me and his expectations when the main goal is to win,’’ the 6-foot-6, 245-pound Stanton said about the through-the-roof hype surrounding the pairing of him with Aaron Judge in the middle of the Yankees’ lineup and providing a Mickey Mantle-Roger Maris dynamic. “If our expectations help us win, it doesn’t matter.’’
Still, the 28-year-old slugging outfielder, who won the NL MVP award last season with the Marlins, when he hit .281 with 59 homers, 132 RBIs and an OPS of 1.007, didn’t drift away from what many believe will be an amazing shower of power this summer.
Judge, 6-7, 282 pounds, was the AL Rookie of the Year in 2017 after hitting .284 with 52 homers, 114 RBIs and a 1.049 OPS.
“The curiosity of what we can do together is the main focus. In terms of living up to the expectations, that is going to come with playing,’’ Stanton said while standing in front of his locker at George M. Steinbrenner Field before taking batting practice at the nearby minor league complex.
Figuring he needed to acclimate himself to a fresh club, new teammates and a strange springtraining city, Stanton arrived in camp two days before the reporting day for position players. The first full-squad workout — and batting practice by Stanton and Judge — is Monday.
Stanton has never known anything in his major league career but playing with the Marlins, a team never burdened by the consideration that a season without a World Series title is a failure.
“This is all new to me and it’s going to be a fun new ride,’’ said Stanton, who has 10 years and $295 million remaining on his contract.
After reaching Game 7 of the ALCS last year and coming within nine innings of reaching the World Series, the Yankees acquired Stanton from the Marlins for second baseman Starlin Castro and two prospects.
Stanton said he has talked to several of his new teammates about what it’s like living inside the often turbulent Yankees universe. However, he hadn’t spoken to CC Sabathia about playing and living in New York. When he does, the veteran lefty will offer the following advice:
“It’s a great place to win and the fans will hold you accountable, but it’s fun to play,’’ said Sabathia, who entered the charged atmosphere as a free agent following the 2008 season and immediately tasted success by helping the Yankees to their most recent World Series title in 2009.
Nothing that has come from general manager Brian Cash- man and first-year manager Aaron Boone indicates Stanton and Judge — right fielders — won’t play some games in left.
“We have talked about [left field],’’ Stanton said of conversations with Boone. “I am going to be working everywhere in the outfield, not center but we are going to make it work.’’
Boone said the duo would work “behind the scenes’’ with outfield coach Reggie Willits to get familiar with left field.
Boone has often talked about how his new players are “buying in’’ when it comes to accepting what the manager is preaching. And after Dellin Betances and Boone talked about anything short of winning a World Series wouldn’t be a good season, Stanton joined the chorus.
“That’s why we are here, that’s what the offseason is all about,’’ said Stanton, who hasn’t played in a postseason game in eight big league seasons. “From where they got last year, they got real close, they advanced into this year and we have new additions, me included, so that is definitely the goal.’’