EXPECT ‘G’ BEST
Mattingly: Stanton will be ‘fine’ in New York
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Don Mattingly knows Giancarlo Stanton well from having managed him the past two years with the Marlins. He is intimate with all that goes on with being a large Yankees star, having been the face of the franchise from the mid-1980s to the mid1990s.
So perhaps no one can better forecast what the coming marriage between Stanton and New York will look like than the Marlins manager.
“G handles himself great,” Mattingly said. “G is a no-maintenance player for me as a manager. He basically is at the ballpark, he’s ready to play. You don’t have to worry about him being there. He’s going to be in shape. He’s going to be ready to go.
“The one thing you always say about New York is you can’t be afraid of the field. You can’t be afraid of the field. You take care of your business on the field, everything works out. And G can really play, obviously, and he’s going to be fine.”
Stanton was traded this week to the Yankees for Starlin Castro and two prospects. In eight years with the Marlins, Stanton never played on a winning team and played consistently before minuscule crowds. So the expectation and intensity is about to heighten.
“As long as he’ll be himself [he’ll be OK],” Mattingly said. “It’s the one thing that’s tough because you’re going to struggle at some point. New York is not a great place to struggle. The one thing about New York, for me, I loved playing there because it’s kind of a no-excuse town. But when you struggle for — you could have had a good year or two. That’s behind you. They want now. So you’re struggling for 10 days, you’re going to have to live with it, and I think how you handle that is the important thing.
“Although, again, as long as he’s himself, continues to take care of his business on the field — struggling in Miami is not like struggling in New York, but I think he’ll handle — he’s a good person. He handles himself fine. So he’ll be fine.”
The Stanton trade is the most significant part of a teardown that began at last season’s trade deadline and has sped up under the new ownership of Bruce Sherman and Derek Jeter.
In 1995, his final season as a player, Mattingly was on a back field at the Yankees’ spring site in Fort Lauderdale, and at the conclusion of practice, he noticed the team’s top prospect walking back toward the clubhouse. He moved beside Jeter and tutored: “Let’s jog it back. You never know who’s watching.”
Now, the roles have been flipped, with Jeter as Mattingly’s boss. But the admonition remains valuable, since Jeter is being watched in a way — more critically than ever before, due to several missteps since taking over running day-to-day operations of the Marlins.
“Derek may be the first to admit, hey, I would do some things maybe a little differently,” Mattingly said.
But in a conference call Monday to announce the Stanton trade, Jeter said he would do nothing differently, specifically in regards to that deal.
Mattingly noted that Jeter made 56 errors in his first full pro season in 1993 — but that he had the talent, confidence and fortitude to persevere and become a Hall of Famelevel player. He said those traits will serve him well now, not listening to the outside noise and just doing what he believes is in the best longterm interest of the Marlins.
And Mattingly believes the tradeoff/rebuild that began last July under different ownership and has continued this offseason with deals of Stanton, Dee Gordon and Marcell Ozuna is good for creating financial stability and a cornerstone of prospects from which to build a sustainable winner.
“It’s an exciting time for me from that standpoint,” Mattingly said.