TALL ORDER
Reggie adds to pressure on Stanton — but sure slugger will handle it
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Reggie Jackson is a man of many words, but when asked what advice he had for Giancarlo Stanton about being a high-paid player entering the bright lights of New York, Mr. October was short. “Play good,’’ said Jackson, a Ph.D in how it works in New York with big names. “It will be fun in spring training. It will be work for the first month,’’ Jackson said. “They will want to know why he didn’t hit a homer the first day. He has been around it. Last year he tried to hit 60 [homers]. Miami is not New York, but he will be fine.’’ Jackson will get a live look at Stanton on Monday night when the Yankees play host to the Phillies at George M. Steinbrenner Field. “He is surrounded by the right group and the right people. It’s a great collection of talent and personality,’’ the Hall of Famer said. “The pieces are in place and I am sure Brian [Cashman] is looking for more. It never stops. The demand never stops. The expectations are as big as the salary.’’ Because Stanton, 28, is in the fourth leg of a $325 million deal that still has 10 seasons remaining, what will be expected from him is every bit as big as his 6-foot-6, 245-pound body that looks to be cut from stone.
“I don’t think he will be surprised. It would be different if he didn’t have a big tool box,’’ Jackson said of Stanton, who was the NL MVP a year ago when he hammered 59 homers, drove in 132 runs and posted a 1.007 OPS. “It will be fun and [the media] will raise the temperature and there is nothing wrong with it. ‘Put the heat on, the lamps on, I am ready.’ ’’
As a Yankees special adviser, Jackson is looking forward to watching Aaron Judge and Stanton in the same batting order that also includes Gary Sanchez, the club’s most complete hitter.
“It’s like seeing twin towers getting off the bus, it’s something to look at,’’ Jackson said of the sluggers who will likely be the second and fourth hitters in Aaron Boone’s lineup. “I am glad to be part of it, it’s cool. I want to see it. I was a little more ready, I was already tanned.’’
Jackson doesn’t put too much stock in whether a hitter uses a closed or open stance. Stanton prefers the former.
“David Ortiz was a little bit closed and Alex [Rodriguez] was a little bit closed. I think good hitters do what they do,’’ Jackson said. “I think Buster Posey is a little bit closed and he is a good hitter. The kid in Cincinnati, [Joey] Votto, is a tiny bit closed. Is it unusual? He is unusual. He hit 50 home r uns . That’s not normal, it’s cool.’’
It will continue to be cool until the inevitable slump hits. If the eight-year veteran and four-time All-Star handles it like Judge did last year when he was the AL Rookie of the Year, Stanton won’t have a problem. Judge didn’t hide when his bat went dead and admitted to letting his teammates down when mired in a deep slump.
Jackson is correct when saying Miami isn’t New York, where the 162-game schedule is really 162 Game 7s. Stanton has never played in a postseason game. Nor has he experienced a fan base that can swing between love and hate faster than an Aroldis Chapman 100-mph fastball.
Think of the recent big-name players who arrived in New York via trade or free agency — Randy Johnson, Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, CC Sa bat hi a and Jacoby Ellsbury. None had an eternal love affair from the fans; that was reserved for Derek Jeter. And here is another sentence that follows Jackson’s “play good’’ quote: Help win a World Series.