The Yankees are going to release Giancarlo Stanton before his contract expires following the 2027 season.
Right now, it is about a date. Now. Next season. The one after. When will baseball operations have the fortitude to ask Hal Steinbrenner to dine on what is left on Stanton’s contract and when will the Yankees owner accept that it is a better use of his money to not have Stanton than to have him?
That discussion must get serious now, with Stanton owed $98 million by the Yankees (the Marlins will pay an additional $30 million between 2025-27).
I do not think Steinbrenner is there yet. The Yankees waited through a lot of failure before cutting Aaron Hicks with three-plus years left on his deal and Josh Donaldson with a month-plus left on his. Steinbrenner should have lots of questions regarding why Hicks was fixed so quickly in Baltimore, and the initial return on Donaldson in Milwaukee has been good too. Before he is paying both Hicks and Stanton for several years not to play for the Yankees, Steinbrenner is going to want to make sure Stanton is irreparable.
Both manager Aaron Boone and hitting coach Sean Casey spoke about work that needs to be done in the offseason, but why it wasn’t done when Stanton has been so obviously struggling for two seasons is one of many Yankees issues that must be examined.
“There’s so much left in the tank for [Stanton],” Casey said. “That’s why he is so frustrated.”
But what are the chances of offensive revival? Five percent? Ten? Stanton did not start Thursday night, sitting on a .188 average in 399 plate appearances. The lowest for a Yankee in a full season of at least 375 plate appearances is the .193 of Jerry Kenney in 1970. Instead, in a rarity, Stanton took early batting practice on the field, often looking as disjointed in his swinging actions against a machine as against an actual major league pitcher.
Stanton will play at age 34 next season. He has been on the injured list each of the last five seasons, eight times in all, seven for lower-body ailments. Stanton now moves like a player who simply has amassed too many lower-half injuries, whether it is because he is trying to move more slowly to avoid the next malady or that the accumulation has become withering. Is that reversible? Even if it is, it won’t be to a degree to make him an asset on defense or the bases.
Blue Jays bench coach Don Mattingly, who managed Stanton in Miami for two seasons, including during his 2017 NL MVP campaign, talked about what a sneaky good baserunner and defender Stanton was even while hitting 59 homers. That player is gone.
I have no doubt due to his strength that Stanton would continue to homer in roughly his career norm of 6 percent of his plate appearances. But what about the other 94 percent? That is an institutional problem for the Yankees. Their decision-makers value exit velocity with blinders. They defended Donaldson because on the rare occasions that he made contact he hit the ball hard. They have believed in Jake Bauers for the same reason.
But what is being sold out to produce that exit velocity? Are the hitters, by chasing hard contact, becoming so susceptible to so many pitches in so many parts of the zone that the vast majority of their at-bats are useless?
As big an issue as any with Stanton is that his presence exacerbates the right-handedness, all-or-nothing hitting style and lack of athleticism that over time has made the Yankees an offensive embarrassment. So would continuing to roster Stanton be an impediment to getting to a championship position group?
No owner wants to pay a player not to play. But the question is about the best use of the dollars. For that, Steve Cohen has offered his fellow New York owner a pathway. Cohen agreed to assume $88 million of future pay for Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander ($71 million if Verlander’s 2025 option does not trigger) to facilitate trades. Basically, amid a disappointing season, Cohen decided that it would be foolhardy to double-down on the current group to try to win next year and that the $88 million was better spent basically buying three prospects. That was prioritizing the big picture because he did not believe in the small one.
Steinbrenner would not be buying prospects. Instead, he would be purchasing a route to a more functional roster, which — among other items, if used well — would open the DH spot, for example, to: Jasson Dominguez to bat in the majors while he builds up his arm strength post-Tommy John surgery, provide a way to keep Aaron Judge and Anthony Rizzo in the lineup, but off the field on occasion and open up at-bats for Austin Wells when he does not catch.
Would that make the Yankees better next year while they find out further about their near future? That is a $98 million question that Steinbrenner must ponder this offseason.
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