WALKING THE GIANCARLO STANTON TIGHTROPE

Oh Stanton, how we love to write about you here at BYB….and how I love to daydream about placing you in right field. How glorious it would be to be the envy of the other 28 teams in all of baseball land. But alas, as great as you could be for our beloved Yankees, you could also hurt us in the long run.  It’s a fine line I find myself balancing on lately.

Despite the huge fire sale that the Marlins had in November, the Marlins claim that Giancarlo Stanton is “off limits.” I can see why they would say that to a point. If they get rid of him, what reason would fans have to go to their games? Honestly….there really wouldn’t be. It’s just frustrating for me as a Yankee fan to constantly see articles like this one HERE:  saying his is available and then 2 minutes later I see this post from Jon Heyman HERE saying otherwise. I get it, this is baseball politics in action. Seriously, this is like dangling a carrot in front of a hungry horse’s mouth…it’s just cruel! I’m already salivating and chomping at the bit here as it is.

I like the idea of Stanton in right field, many do and we continue to talk about it, read that HERE. The Marlins aren’t going to be a force to reckon with this season. The signings of Placido Polanco, John Maine, and Juan Pierre are not going to be enough to make them compete so why not start from scratch, Marlins? There’s no doubt that a young talent like Stanton would be a HUGE pick up for our team. He is exactly what we are looking for right now. 

• We want to get younger: Check! 
• We want to trim down payroll. Check again!
• We also want youngsters on our team that we can keep on the books long term. Another Check! 

He sounds perfect….time to get that dialing finger warmed up!

The Marlins made a hasty move in my opinion, but there loss could be our gain. They aren’t so crazy that they are going to sell Stanton off for peanuts and a beer. He will cost us, but not in dollars….talent. The Marlins want to rebuild and right now the Yankees don’t have enough “major league ready” talent in the upper divisions. We have good prospects, but they are down in the ranks. Any trade talks are likely to start with any or all of the following names:

• Slade Heathcott: OF. If they give up Stanton, they will want someone else to groom into that position. He also offers a powerful bat, and he has speed. If he gets on base he causes headaches. I watched him during the Arizona Fall League and was pretty impressed. Jack Curry of YES Tweeted that Damon Oppenheimer, the Yankees scouting director believes that Heathcott could be playing in the bigs in 2013.  Where? That remains to be seen.

•  Mason Williams: OF. Another outfield candidate. He can hit for average, he gets on base and can steal. He is everything the Yankees could want to spark some extra offense….so why wouldn’t the Marlins?

•  Tyler Austin: TBD. The Yankees have moved Austin around quite a bit. Originally drafted as a catcher, then moved to third base and then moved to right field even faster. The Yankees can’t seem to make up their mind about him. With Alex Rodriguez out of play for a while they have toyed with the idea of moving him back to third. Austin has a powerful bat that could be promising to the Marlins that could become more lethal if given a permanent position to play in regularly.

•  Gary Sanchez: Catcher. He could be the next great homegrown Yankee catcher. His defense has impressed many at a young age. He can control the game, he just needs the experience. Catchers are hard to come by, you can never have too many….right? I think we have all realized that recently so he would be attractive to the Marlins too.

If I'm Jeffrey Loria and I have Brian Cashman on the phone I am pulling out all of these names. Some may be saying, “so what? With a talent like Stanton you pull the trigger.” Normally, I might agree. I am even inclined to do it! However, looking at the bigger picture here none of these guys have had significant time at or above the AA level…and if we give up these guys we might be taking a step backwards. If we lose these guys for one big name we are hurting our farm system for years to come. Right now we need to be adding young guys, not subtracting. Then again, I know how special he is and I want Stanton in the outfield! 

I’m still pounding that Giancarlo drum….but you have to wonder, how much is too much? I don’t know. I leave that up to Brian Cashman. At the end of the day I am just a girl who loves to watch baseball and talk about the Yankees....I don't get paid the big bucks to figure out all of these complex issues. Now I get to sit here and anxiously watch how all of this plays out!

Stay tuned on this one...

--Jeana Bellezza, BYB Writer and Editor

Twitter: @NyPrincessJ


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