Yankees' 3 pressing roster questions: What to do with Giancarlo Stanton?
- Giancarlo Stanton, 37, missed nearly the entire season with calf issues, yet could cost the Yankees $15 million to release—the same team that once paid $22 million to make DJ LeMahieu disappear.
- Third baseman Ryan McMahon is a glove-first guy who suddenly forgot how to glove, posting a career-worst -3 DRS and a 78 wRC+ that makes him look like a pitcher with a bat.
- Ben Rice can hit the ball to the moon (41 homers, .897 OPS) but fields first base like he's wearing concrete cleats, ranking 42nd out of 43 in defensive runs saved.
- Manager Aaron Boone still has a job after nine years without a ring, proving that in Yankeeland, 'sloppy and can't hit' is apparently a job qualification.
- The Yankees have $25 million reasons to keep Stanton but zero reasons to believe his calves will survive spring training.
Brief Summary
The New York Yankees are licking their wounds after a humiliating ALDS sweep by the Rays, and now the front office has to decide whether to pay $15 million to cut Giancarlo Stanton loose or pray that a 37-year-old with chronic calf strains can still be the clubhouse enforcer. Stanton hasn't played the field regularly since the Obama administration, can't run the bases, and his only contribution in October was warming the bench as a pinch-hitter, yet the Yankees are terrified of losing his grizzled veteran presence and his 456 career home runs. The roster is a mess beyond Stanton: Ryan McMahon, acquired to be a defensive stabilizer at third, turned into a minus-3 DRS liability who can't hit (.78 wRC+), making him a prime candidate for a salary-dumping trade. Meanwhile, Ben Rice hits like a dream and fields first base like a nightmare, and the Yankees desperately need him to improve because Aaron Judge is getting old and needs DH days, but there's no space if Stanton lingers. It's a classic Yankees logjam of aging, overpaid, injury-prone veterans and young hitters who can't defend, all while Boone patrols the dugout with job security that defies logic.
Why This Matters
This matters because the Yankees are the only team in baseball where spending $15 million to *save* money is considered a tough decision, and fans are about to get another offseason of 'wait and see' while other teams actually build rosters. If you're a Yankee fan, you're facing the grim reality that a 37-year-old who can't walk is being considered over a young hitter with 41 homers, simply because the old guy has 'credibility'—which is corporate-speak for 'he'll yell at people in the clubhouse.' The Stanton dilemma is a microcosm of the entire franchise: loyal to a fault, injury-prone, and allergic to hard decisions. If they keep him, they're sacrificing roster flexibility and Rice's development for sentiment. If they cut him, they're admitting the aging superstar era is over, and the front office might actually have to build a team that can run the bases and field grounders. Either way, the AL East isn't getting easier, and the Rays are laughing all the way to another playoff berth while the Yankees debate whether to pay a guy to go away.