Giancarlo Stanton Basically Accepted The Trade To The Yankees In A Millisecond, Also Absolutely Despises The Monstrosity In Center Field At Marlins Park
So earlier today SI dropped an awesome piece about the whole Giancarlo Stanton trade and the behind the scene makings that brought the monster to The Bronx. First they mention the exact moment Stanton got the call. He literally committed as soon as humanly possible.
As he stood on the beach on Dec. 7, his phone rang. It was his agent, Joel Wolfe.
“You’re not going to believe this, G, but we got a deal,” Wolfe said. “The Yankees.”
“Let’s do it,” Stanton said.
“You sure you don’t need a night to sleep on it?”
“If you want me to take a night, I’ll take a night,” Stanton said. “The answer’s going to be the same. Do it.”
TRANSLATION: GET ME OUT OF MIAMI RIGHT THIS SECOND. When you’re playing for such a shit organization like Miami and you hear the word “Yankees” you say yes and hang up the phone. I love the lack of hesitancy from Stanton and the desperation to go somewhere to win meaningful baseball games. We obviously knew most of this, but the actual conversation in itself is interesting.
The next piece of interesting info is regarding Plan A: Shohei Ohtani. As we know Cashman’s offseason revolved around filling his DH void with the potential star in Ohtani. In mid-November at the GM Meetings, before any of this was even a sniff of fruition, Cashman made sure there was a backup plan in case he didn’t land Shohei.
Even so, at the league’s GM meetings in Orlando in mid-November, Cashman laid the groundwork for a significantly more expensive Plan B. After one session, he tapped Michael Hill, whom Jeter had retained as the Marlins’ GM, on the shoulder. They took a walk on the grounds of the hotel. “I know we’re probably a dark horse on Stanton,” Cashman said. “None of it is possible until the Ohtani thing plays out. We could become players.”
That’s why Cashman is Brian Cashman. He plays chess while everyone else is playing checkers. He’s 7 steps ahead of you before you’re even thinking about your next move. He’s the dark wizard that has built the prior championship teams and also has set this organization up to be a dominant force for the next 10 or so years. The next part here is another reason why Ohtani didn’t even meet with the Yankees. It’s a weird one..
In early December, Cashman learned that Ohtani would not be signing with a team east of the Mississippi River, nor one that conducted spring training in Florida. The Yankees satisfied neither requirement
We knew about his strong dislike for playing on the East Coast. But a team’s Spring Training destination being a reason you don’t sign with them is crazy town. I’ve frankly never heard of such a thing. You’re there for a month and a half and that’s your deal breaker? That’s pretty bizarre. It’s almost like Ohtani read all the weird Florida blogs from our site and made up his mind right then and there. If that’s the case I respect the fuck out of him.
Stanton also pleaded to Jeter to give the Marlins a chance to win. Let them use the players that helped score the 5th most runs in baseball and if it doesn’t work then blow it up.
“Give it one half of the season,” Stanton said. “If we aren’t right there with the Nationals, or right there in the wild-card race, then you can deal everybody.”
Jeter said fuck you all and blew it all up the next moment he could.
Lastly, Stanton voiced his strong displeasure for the monstrosity in center field at Marlins Park. Just letting all the hate in his heart out, a personal favorite action of mine.
“I can’t stand that sculpture,” he says. “I never liked it. I hope Jeter takes it down. He said he wants to. I hope he does. All it does is suggest that this place is a circus, and we’re the main attraction. The circus is over now.”
Stanton’s right. There’s no reason for that thing to be out there besides distract fans from the horrible baseball that’s being played. That’s probably why he made it his mission to hit that bad boy as many times as he possibly could. Just tried to destroy it single handily. He seems so relieved to be in New York and I cannot wait for next Thursday when we open up the season in Toronto.