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Giancarlo Stanton

Giancarlo Stanton Aiming To Play On Opening Day

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After battling injuries for the better part of two years, Giancarlo Stanton feels he is on pace to be in the Yankees’ lineup on Opening Day.  Stanton suffered a calf injury back during Spring Training that would have landed him on the injured list had the season opened as scheduled, though “the progress back has been good,” Stanton told MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch and other reporters.

“I’m good again and getting everything I need to be ready….I’ve been [taking fly balls] in batting practice.  It’s better to be in a controlled setting right now, especially while pitchers are trying to get their work in.”

That batting practice work has been Stanton’s only action on the grass during Summer Camp, as he hasn’t played in the field during intrasquad games.  The Yankees intend to use Stanton only as a DH when the season begins, and then potentially get him back to outfield work depending on his health.

Biceps and knee injuries limited Stanton to just 18 games and 72 plate appearances in 2019, plus 18 more PA over five of New York’s postseason games.  While Stanton had been rather notoriously injury-plagued earlier in his career, it seemed like had turned a corner after playing in 317 of a possible 324 games for the Marlins and Yankees in 2017-18.  The peak, of course, was Stanton’s 59-homer performance that won him the 2017 NL MVP Award, though his first full season in the Bronx was also very productive, as Stanton slugged 38 homers and slashed .266/.343/.509 over a career-high 705 PA in 2018.  Even last year, Stanton was dangerous when he was in the lineup, posting an .894 OPS over his 72 PA.

Cashman: Yankees “Optimistic” Judge Will Be Ready For Opening Day

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After months of uncertainty surrounding the status of Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, general manager Brian Cashman said on a conference call today that the team is optimistic he’ll be ready for the rescheduled Opening Day (Twitter links via The Athletic’s Lindsey Adler). The Yankees are also optimistic that Giancarlo Stanton will be ready to open the year in the DH slot. Lefty James Paxton is expected to be ready to go as well, and it’s possible that center fielder Aaron Hicks could be game-ready come Opening Day as well.

Judge’s entire injury saga has been bizarrely vague, but it seems an end is at last in sight. It took the club several weeks early in camp to diagnose a stress fracture in his rib, and only two weeks later did the team reveal that Judge was also found to have a collapsed lung. Near the end of March, Boone revealed that Judge’s injuries may have dated all the way back to last September. Even throughout the shutdown, updates on Judge lacked specific timelines and frequently pointed to additional imaging as the next step.

Stanton sustained a calf injury back in Spring Training, and Cashman indicated today that he’s quite specifically referencing a DH-only role with regard to the former NL MVP’s Opening Day readiness. The YES Network’s Jack Curry tweets that the club wants to evaluate Stanton in camp before making any declaration about his ability to play in the outfield.

Paxton is more than four months removed from back surgery and could be game-ready right now, according to Cashman. There’s a bit less certainty regarding Hicks, who is eight months out from last year’s Tommy John surgery. Hicks has already proclaimed himself ready to go for the season opener, though the organization is understandably taking a bit more reserved approach and will use “Summer Camp” (as the league has now termed it) to make its own evaluation.

Latest On Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton

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Had the regular season started when it was supposed to in late March, the Yankees would have had to go without the face of their franchise, right fielder Aaron Judge, for a lengthy period of time. A right rib fracture and a punctured lung slowed Judge during the first version of spring training this year, but the slugger now has a chance to be in the Yankees’ season-opening lineup in a month, Erik Boland of Newsday reports.

Judge, whose injury problems first cropped up in February, has finally returned to hitting off a tee, per Boland. While that doesn’t mean he’ll be ready for Game 1 of the Yankees’ season, it’s still a a positive development for the club, which would have opened a normal season without three of its best outfield options in Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks. Each player was shelved with injuries during the spring, though we now know Hicks expects to return from his October 2019 Tommy John procedure once the season starts.

Like Hicks, Stanton – who dealt with a calf strain during the spring – is a near certainty right now to be part of New York’s opener, according to Boland. Injuries have been a major problem dating back to last season for Stanton, whose second year as a Yankee consisted of a mere 18 games.

Three Teams Who’ve Yet To Win Their Division

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It is somewhat amazing that there are three National League teams – one each for the West, East, and Central – that have yet to win their division.

Make no mistake, the American League has its share of heartbreak. The Mariners have yet to return to the playoffs after their 116-win season in 2001. The Rangers are far away as ever from capturing their first World Series after the so-close-you-can-taste-it near-misses of 2010 and 2011. Fans of the Astros and Red Sox have suffered different brands of heartbreak after the legitimacy of their recent winners was called into question. 

But in the National League, the Rockies, Marlins, and Pirates have never won their respective divisions.

Granted, the Pirates were crowned champs of the National League East 9 times, including a three-peat for Jim Leyland’s clubs from 1990 to 1992 and a title-winner way back in 1979 – but since they moved to the NL Central in 1994: goose eggs. That’s a 26-year-run without a divisional crown, a mark of futility eclipsed only by the Rockies and Marlins. Colorado and Florida both entered the league in 1993, and neither has landed the top spot in their division in the 27 seasons since. 

Back in the junior circuit, every team in the AL East has won since 2010 (Tampa Bay). In the Central, the White Sox have the longest drought (11 seasons), going back to their first-place finish in 2008. Everyone in the AL West has taken their turn at the top since 2012 – except the Mariners, of course, who won the division in 2001 and 1997.

But each division in the National League has its slow-and-steady competitor, so let’s take a quick look at each.

Colorado Rockies

Of these three clubs, the Rockies’ reputation took the fewest hits over the last 27 years. The Blake Street Bombers hold a particular place in baseball lore, and there’s a general sense of “unfortunate circumstances” around the Rox because of the thin air in Colorado. The impossibility of housing a winning pitching staff at Coors Field is baseball cliche now, but that doesn’t make the challenge any less potent.

Here’s what I wrote of Colorado in their Offseason In Review post back in March: “Colorado pitching, after all, has proven one of the more frustrating team-building challenges in the major leagues. The Sisyphean task of constructing even a league-average pitching staff at Coors Field persists year-after-year. Over the course of their 27-season history, the Rockies posted a league-average or better team ERA just three times (2010, 2009, 2007). In 2010, Jim Tracy’s 83-win squad finished with an exactly-league-average ERA, but those other two seasons — 2009, 2007 — happen to be two of the only three seasons in which the Rockies won 90 games in their history.”

Adding to the task at hand for Colorado, there’s at least a possibility that ownership believes this team is better than it is. They lost 91 games last year and have exhibited zero financial flexibility. If they end up losing close to 90 games again (or the equivalent in whatever kind of season is played in 2020), then the Rockies are still probably in the decline phase, not yet having rebooted into a full-blown rebuild. Rebuilds, of course, are time-intensive when done right, and very time-intensive when rushed.

The Rockies have made the postseason a handful of times, and they won the pennant in 2007, but they’re caught in no-man’s-land now. The Dodgers have won the division 7 years running, and Walker Buehler, Cody Bellinger, and company have plenty left in the tank. The Padres’ stable of young arms makes them one of the more intriguing up-and-coming teams in the league, and the Diamondbacks continue to impress with their ability to retool on the fly. After coming within a play-in game of taking the crown from the Dodgers in 2018, the Rockies might have missed their best shot.

Miami Marlins

The Marlins entered the league at a tough time to be a member of the NL East. The Atlanta Braves held a hammerlock on the division, taking the crown every season from 1995 until 2005 (they were in the NL West before that). To their credit, the Marlins made themselves into a competitive squad pretty quick, making the playoffs as a wild card in 1997, just their fifth season of existence. The organization made its name the year after, however, in selling off the pieces of their World Series winner and cratering into a 108-loss squad. After that horrid 1998 season, it took the Marlins five more years to get back to the playoffs again, at which point it was second-verse-same-as-the-first. They didn’t sink quite so fast or quite so far the second time around, but they also haven’t recovered (no playoff appearances since 2003).

That said, the Marlins have begun to see the light from their decade-plus in limbo. MLBTR’s own Mark Polishuk wrapped up the Marlins offseason back in March with this: “It’s a sign of progress, however, that the scorched-earth phase of the rebuild seems to be over.  Villar, Kintzler, or other veterans on short-term deals could well end up being moved at the trade deadline, but it doesn’t seem like younger talent is on the move…Miami seems ready to find out if the young players it already has in the fold could end up being part of that next Marlins winner, and it will be intriguing to see which of the pitchers and position players take that next step in 2020.”

The current era of Marlins baseball is best known for shepherding the likes of Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, and Marcell Ozuna out of town prior to the 2018 season. But they’re also a unique entrant on this mini-list because they won not just one, but two World Series titles over this span. Derek Jeter now helms the organization, and though they don’t have that face-of-the-franchise type player soaking up their spotlight, they’ve become increasingly competitive. Heading into whichever season of baseball comes next, they’ll have a decent collection of starting pitchers to keep them in games – with a smaller host of position player prospects nearing the majors. Whether they have that franchise-changing talent in the upper ranks is unclear. Business might not yet be booming in Miami, but it’s better. 

Pittsburgh Pirates

As stated above, it’s a bit unfair for the Pirates to be lumped in with the expansion clubs from the nineties, as they do have a history of success in the major leagues. They have 9 division crowns, 7 World Series appearances, and 5 World Series banners. But that’s all ancient history.

Since moving to the NL Central in 1994, the Pirates are a firm contender for the most moribund franchise in the sport. The departure of Barry Bonds after the 1992 season put an unfortunate face on their decline – much in the way that Babe Ruth’s departure doomed Boston baseball for so long – but there has been ample time to rebound from those back-to-back game 7 losses to Atlanta in 1991 and 1992.

In the time since the Pirates’ primary distinction is claiming the title for the longest streak of losing seasons in North American sports history. Forget about division titles. The Pirates weren’t able to finish over .500 one time from 1993 to 2012.

Pittsburgh fans finally had something to cheer for in 2013 when Clint Hurdle’s club broke through with 94 wins and a wild card berth. They even won that first playoff game against the division rival Cincinnati Reds and pushed another rival – the Cardinals – to five games in the NLDS. The club followed its star outfield of Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte, and Gregory Polanco to two more wild card berths in the following two seasons. Unfortunately, they were unable to get more than one playoff game in either of those years.

After finishing over .500 again in 2018, last season brought on a complete reset. Most of the organizations’ management turned over, and the remaining faces of those competitive clubs – Hurdle, Marte – were also sent packing. The organization is now in the hands of GM Ben Cherington, but they’re facing a complete philosophical overhaul. While they have talent, they’re not an easy club to put a timeline on returning to contention. Not until they put together a pitching staff with a more effective (and less pugilistic) philosophy. The division isn’t dominated by one team like the current AL West, but the Cardinals build a winner year after year, and the Cubs and Brewers aren’t far off in terms of their recent consistency.

Looking ahead, a shortened season in 2020 could open the window for a bizarre sort of division champ. All hope is not lost. On the whole, however, I don’t think there are a lot of pundits who would pick any of the Rockies, Marlins, or Pirates to breakthrough next season. Still, it’s bound to happen one day, right? All three teams will work to end their respective droughts, and in the meantime, thank goodness for the wild card.

(Poll link for app users.)

(Poll link for app users.)

 

Latest On Aaron Judge, Other Injured Yankees

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May 6: In light of Boone’s comments yesterday, the New York Post’s Dan Martin reports that the club has privately been expecting a June or July recovery date for Judge. The slugger hasn’t experienced any setbacks along the way, per Martin, but it seems the organization has simply anticipated that his recovery process will be a fairly lengthy one.

May 5: Yankees skipper Aaron Boone provided updates on several injured Yankees in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM earlier this morning (Twitter link, with audio).

Center fielder Aaron Hicks, on the mend from 2019 Tommy John surgery, is throwing from 90-plus feet and is taking soft toss from both sides of the plate as he continues his rehab. Hicks went under the knife about six and a half months ago and was initially slated for a timeline of eight to ten months. He’s “trending in a really good direction,” per Boone.

The outlook appears even brighter for lefty James Paxton and slugger Giancarlo Stanton. The former is now three months (to the day) removed from back surgery and is expected to be recovered by “mid-May,” per Boone. Paxton has tossed five bullpen sessions already and pitched a simulated game just yesterday. Stanton, meanwhile, is “doing really well and should be good to go whenever we get ready to go back.”

On Aaron Judge, the projection is a bit murkier. He’s slated to undergo another CT scan in “a couple more weeks,” which suggests that the right fielder’s fractured rib has not yet fully healed. Judge’s entire injury scenario has been shrouded in varying degrees of uncertainty. It took the club several weeks early in camp to diagnose the stress fracture in his rib, and only two weeks later did the team reveal that Judge was also found to have a collapsed lung. Near the end of March, Boone revealed that Judge’s injuries may have dated all the way back to last September. It’s been a frustrating saga for Yankees fans, and it seems there’s still no definitive timetable in place for the 28-year-old’s recovery — or at least not one they’re comfortable sharing publicly just yet.

Latest On Giancarlo Stanton, James Paxton

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Had the Major League Baseball season started on time, the Yankees would have had to come out of the gates without three of their most important players. Injured outfielders Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton and left-hander James Paxton all would have missed some portion of the campaign, but if this season does get underway, they should be ready from the outset.

We already know about Judge, who’s progressing in his recovery from a rib stress fracture. His fellow slugger Stanton is also on the road back, manager Aaron Boone told Meredith Marakovits of the YES Network (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com).

“Giancarlo’s doing well,” Boone said. “He’s still reporting in Tampa and going through his rehab. He’s doing really well. When we get ready to go, he should certainly be ready to be back and part of things.”

Stanton suffered a calf injury in the final week of February, rendering him doubtful for a normal Opening Day. It was especially unwelcome in light of Stanton’s abbreviated 2019, when biceps and knee issues limited him to a meager 18 regular-season games. That was Year 2 in a Yankees uniform for Stanton, whom they acquired from the Marlins on the heels of his 2017 NL MVP-winning season and who produced a .266/.343/.509 line with 38 home runs in 705 plate appearances during his only full season as a Yankee. He’s still signed for a guaranteed $244MM through 2027 (including a $10MM buyout for ’28). While the 30-year-old will have an opportunity to opt out of his contract after this season, it seems extremely unlikely he’ll take advantage of that chance even if he does enjoy a healthy and productive 2020.

There are better odds that Paxton has donned Yankees pinstripes for the last time. He’ll be a free agent next winter, after all, and no one knows whether a season will occur in the meantime. Paxton has consistently performed well for the Mariners and Yankees over the past few years, which would make him an appealing free agent, but injuries have been an all-too-common problem along the way. He underwent back surgery in early February and was set to be sidelined into May. But the 31-year-old’s recovery has gone “pretty smoothly,” according to Boone, who added he’s “really encouraged where James is.”

Paxton’s importance to New York’s staff only increased when righty Luis Severino underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery in February. That procedure left Paxton as arguably the Yankees’ top complement to Gerrit Cole, with Masahiro Tanaka, J.A. Happ and Jordan Montgomery also in the mix. Paxton showed well in his first season as a Yankee, averaging better than 95 mph on his fastball and turning in 150 2/3 innings of 3.82 ERA/3.86 FIP ball with 11.11 K/9 and 3.29 BB/9.

These Players Can Exit Their Contracts After 2020

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No matter if a Major League Baseball season takes place in 2020, there are certain players who will be in position to decide whether to exit their current contracts next winter. Whether it be by way of an opt-out clause or a mutual option, here’s a look at the players who will be able to choose to take their chances in free agency…

Opt-Outs

Back when the Marlins extended outfielder Giancarlo Stanton on a historic pact worth $325MM over 13 years in 2014, they included a one-time opt-out for next winter. Stanton has put up at least one phenomenal season since he signed that deal – he won the NL MVP and hit 59 home runs in 2017 – but injuries have hampered him on a regular basis. He’s now a member of the Yankees, who acquired him in a December 2017 deal, but Stanton played in just 18 games last season. He’ll still be owed $218MM for seven years after this season, and for at least the time being, it’s very tough to think of Stanton leaving that money on the table to test free agency.

Designated hitter J.D. Martinez, a member of the Yankees’ archrival in Boston, will have two years and $38.75MM remaining on his contract after this season. He’ll be 33 then, and will continue to be someone who’s known as a defensive liability, so should be opt out? It’s up for debate. The big-hitting Martinez remains an offensive standout, but his production last season fell (granted, he did still slash .304/.383/.557 with 36 home runs in 657 plate appearances). He subsequently chose not to opt out after last season, as doing so would have cost him his $23.75MM salary for this year.

One of Martinez’s former Tigers teammates, outfielder Nicholas Castellanos, will also have to choose whether to revisit free agency next offseason. Castellanos is another defensively challenged slugger, one whom the Reds guaranteed $64MM over four years this past winter. He’ll be 29 by the time the 2021 season rolls around, and by saying goodbye to his Reds pact, he’d be leaving $48MM on the table (including a $2MM buyout in 2024). It’s not easy to determine whether that will happen; some of it depends on how well Castellanos fares in 2020, if a season occurs. Carrying over the tremendous production he posted late last season after the Cubs acquired him from the Tigers may make Castellanos more inclined to try his luck on the market again, but his output at the plate has been more good than great throughout his career.

Mutual Options

For the most part, mutual options don’t get picked up. Either a player’s so effective that he opts for free agency or he’s not useful enough for his team to exercise the option. Rockies first baseman Daniel Murphy and reliever Wade Davis are among those who have mutual option decisions waiting after the season, but they’ve struggled in the club’s uniform so far. With that in mind, Murphy’s on track for a $6MM buyout (as opposed to a $12MM salary), while Davis figures to receive a $1MM buyout instead of a $15MM payday.

Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun ($15MM mutual option, $4MM buyout), Diamondbacks right-hander Mike Leake ($18MM mutual option, $5MM buyout) and Cubs lefty Jon Lester ($25MM mutual option, $10MM buyout) could also find themselves looking for new contracts next winter. The same goes for Mets reliever Dellin Betances, though it’s tougher to say in his case. The former Yankee barely pitched at all season on account of injuries, and if there isn’t a season in 2020, would he turn down a guaranteed $6MM in 2021? And would the Mets buy him out for $3MM? That’s one of the many interesting questions we could face next offseason.

Latest On Giancarlo Stanton’s Calf Injury

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Yankees outfielder Giancarlo Stanton has continued to rehab his injured calf during the coronavirus hiatus. Since last we checked in, it seems he has made significant progress.

In comments to Meredith Marakovits on YES Network, Yanks manager Aaron Boone indicated that Stanton is more or less back to full speed. (Via MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, on Twitter.) Per Boone, Stanton would “probably be ready to go” if spring contests were still on the schedule.

It remains to be seen just when Stanton will actually have a chance to re-take the field. But it’s certainly good to hear that he has improved so much even without any need for urgency.

Stanton had been expected to miss Opening Day but will now be expected to suit up when the sport finally restarts. Of course, that presumes he’ll be able to avoid any further injuries while working out during the layoff. Stanton dealt with a series of maladies in 2019, ultimately appearing in only 18 contests.

Latest On Stanton, Paxton Progress

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The Yankees have missed a few key players early in camp, but two were back on the field today, as MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch reports (links to Twitter). Both Giancarlo Stanton and James Paxton are participating in some baseball activities this morning.

Stanton, who has been nursing a calf injury, was able to take live batting practice today. Stepping in against a big-league hurler represents a notable step that seems to suggest there has been real progress.

The Yanks have already ruled Stanton out for Opening Day, but the hope has remained that he’ll be ready before the month of April is out. Today’s development buttresses that belief.

As for Paxton, he was throwing with teammates this morning. That’s a notable milestone — indeed, it’s the first time he has tossed a ball since undergoing a back procedure in mid-December.

It’s good to see Paxton back to baseball activities, but he still obviously has a ways to go. At this point, the southpaw says he views a mid-May return to the majors as a best-case outcome.

Cashman On Health Of Judge, Stanton; Rotation Needs

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Yankees GM Brian Cashman spoke with the media this morning regarding the health uncertainty surrounding star sluggers Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. He also disputed recent reporting regarding the team’s efforts to shore up an injury-depleted rotation mix. MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch was among those to cover the news (links to Twitter).

First and foremost, it now seems abundantly clear — if it wasn’t already — that the Yanks will go without their twin right-handed power towers for some time to open the season. Cashman didn’t say so expressly regarding Judge, but that’s evident in the fact that he’s still undergoing testing. Judge is said to be “responding well” to the treatment he has received, but his timeline remains uncertain.

As for Stanton, Cashman said plainly that it’s “unrealistic” to expect him to be in the Opening Day lineup. But the top New York baseball ops exec did say he believes the outfielder/DH can make it back to the majors during the month of April. Stanton is rehabbing a calf injury. It doesn’t seem to be a major malady but the team is understandably handling it with care after a 2019 season that was plagued by injuries (for both Stanton and the team).

The hope presumably remains that both of those players will end up being available for most of the coming season. But the Yanks have already endured some major blows to their pitching plans — especially, the loss of Luis Severino for the entire campaign.

The club has given public indication that it’s focused on its internal options. But it stands to reason that the organization will at least look for way to add depth. And there has been some suggestion that the Yankees might attempt to add a rotation piece via trade. MLBTR’s Connor Byrne recently examined a few hypothetical possibilities. Just yesterday, we saw reports of interest in Mets lefty Steven Matz.

Cashman squashed any hope of a surprising mid-spring, cross-town Matz swap — or any other near-term trade. “We have not talked to anybody,” the GM said of trade chatter involving the rotation. That obviously doesn’t rule out future conversations, but it seems at a minimum that the Yankees staff won’t feature any prominent new members in the coming days.

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