Sending MVP Stanton to Yankees
St. Louis and San Francisco said Friday that Stanton vetoed deals to them. for the physical, injuries curtailed Stanton’s season in the past six years, but he played 159 games in 2017. the Yankees complete the with a team run by their former captain, the new Marlins CEO, the Bronx Bombers acquire a slugger who major league-high 59 runs this past season and him with Aaron Judge, led the American League with 52 in his rookie season. That would give them a onetwo punch to rival Ruth-Gehrig or Mantle-Maris, making for must-see batting practice.
Stanton and Judge hit all nine home runs this year that left the bat at 117 mph or faster, according to MLB’s Statcast. Stanton also led the majors with 132 RBIs.
Obtaining Stanton, 28, would be reminiscent of the Yankees’ acquisition of AL MVP Alex Rodriguez from Texas after the 2003 season for second baseman Alfonso Soriano. Rodriguez signed a $275 million, 10-year contract after the 2007 season that ran through age 42; Stanton’s deal runs through age 38.
An eight-year veteran with 267 home runs, Stanton has never played on a winning team and now might go to a club that hasn’t had a losing record since 1992. The Yankees reached Game 7 of the American League Championship Series this season in the first full year of a youth movement. also did not raise his concerns in a mean-spirited manner. But without getting specific, Rodriguez did question some of the Pirates’ business decisions after their 98-win season in 2015. (They dealt second baseman Neil Walker in the offseason and closer Mark Melancon the following summer.)
“There were some moves made in ‘16, I guess that kind of hurt a lot of that,” Rodriguez said. “I feel like a big piece of the core was chipped off ... and I get it, again, I know there’s a business side to it. I don’t know who’s at the forefront of it. Um, I kind of do. And I’m not taking shots at Neal, that’s for sure, because it’s not necessarily him. It plays a huge factor. Because you can’t do that. You can’t eliminate something that’s moving in a certain direction and basically just everyone just take this big piece out and get rid of it. Can it work? Yeah, absolutely, it can work sometimes, but it’s a rarity. It’s a low percentage when you do that. ... But that’s just the way it is. That’s the game, that’s the business. Hopefully, we’ve got enough building up at that core that it doesn’t matter.”
Rodriguez also suggested that the Pirates have all the pieces needed to contend in 2018 as long as they regain some of the club dynamic from 2015, but he did have questions about what the team would look like going forward.
“There might be a few pieces that we might need,” Rodriguez said. “But I guess the bigger thing would be, are they trying to alleviate — I don’t know how to properly say this — in certain areas?” Rodriguez said. “Because I definitely want to call them out, but not like that. Are we getting rid of guys? Are we trying to get back? I understand the whole business side, where, ‘This guy is making this much
What: The 2017 MLB winter meetings, Walt Disney Swan and Dolphin Resort, Orlando, Fla. When: Monday-Thursday. On the web: Follow PG Pirates writers on Twitter: Bill Brink @ BrinkPG and Elizabeth Bloom @ BloomPG. Also: For daily news and analysis, read their stories and posts at post-gazette.com. and we can get that.’ If we’re trying to do that, it’s tough to say what we would need.”
Rodriguez believes the 2018 Pirates could contend even without many big-name players, alluding to his seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays when they regularly appeared in the postseason.
“For me, if 25 guys on a daily basis go out there and show up together with one goal in mind, nobody can beat that. It doesn’t matter how much talent you put on the other side. I’ve been through that when I was with Tampa. … There was just one goal. We literally didn’t care. Nobody was being selfish.”
“In ‘15 we dominated,” he added. “The only difference we had there was that concept.”
Pirates front-office members addressed the team’s finances in an “Ask the Management” session Saturday morning with season-ticket holders. Asked whether the team could win under current ownership and no salary cap, president Frank Coonelly said, “Unquestionably, it is possible, and we will do that. That is our sole goal and intent is to win a championship here.”
Following on Coonelly’s remarks, Huntington said, “Sport owners don’t get to be sport owners by losing huge sums of money in their businesses year in and year out. Most every other owner that you wish would come into Pittsburgh