The New York Yankees made what they consider to be the best deal of the offseason when they traded for Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins. Even with Marlins’ ownership looking out for the organization’s best interest by dumping his outrageous salary, he’s still the reigning NL MVP. Now with the Yankees, Stanton was to become the missing link to championship No. 28 but he’s struggling to start the season. What’s worse, according to Nicholas D. Blazek of FanSided , is that fans of the New York Yankees want Stanton gone.
Stanton is now realizing he’s no longer in Miami where losing was the norm. When those pinstripes go on, every player is expected to put their best foot forward. So far, fans believe that Stanton has done the opposite. This is the Yankees where each season begins with World Series goals. But still, isn’t it just a tad too early to be throwing Stanton away?
The Yankees, even with their explosive lineup, are just 13 games into the season with a 6-7 record to boot. What fans are crying about is not the record, but what has Stanton done or not done since hitting those two home runs in his first game. With such a debut, Yankees’ fans were drooling over what was to come. However, Stanton has come back down to earth. But this is baseball where these types of slumps happen.
Blazek would go on to mention that Stanton is going through something similar that Chicago Cubs’ Ian Happ is going through as he struggles and Cubs’ fans are asking for him to be sent back down to the minors.
Through 13 games, Stanton has 13 hits, three home runs, and 10 RBI’s. What’s exactly wrong with those numbers? Blazek believes it could be his strikeouts. While Stanton is a power hitter, he’s also been one of the annual leaders in strikeouts during his career. For the season, he has already struck out 23 times in 54 at-bats. Yankees’ fans have treated Stanton horrible by booing him twice already this season at home.
This is the same treatment Alex Rodriguez went through during his tenure in the Bronx. Blazek would also mention that Stanton is the first player in the live ball era to have two games with no hits and five strikeouts.
Things like this happen. Stanton is no stranger to slumps, just like any major league player isn’t but Yankees’ fans may be expecting magic every time he steps into the batter’s box. That may be expected after the great year he had in 2017. Although he smashed 59 homers in 2017, Stanton did not hit a home run every time up. So why the unreachable expectations and screams for a trade?
Asking for a trade this early in the season is nothing but fans hitting the panic button when they need to let this play out. A trade will leave the Yankees in trouble. There are not many teams willing to take on his contract much less give the Yankees back equal star power. With Aaron Hicks and Jacoby Ellsbury out, the Yankees are thin in the outfield. Keeping him is best all the way around.
Stanton will get back on track just as he’s always done. The big issue here is that Stanton could be forcing the issue instead of letting the game come to him. In doing so, he has put his resume on the line in a city where winning is the only thing that matters. If the Yankees were 12-1, this wouldn’t be an issue, right?