Welp this is a scenario I wouldn’t think I would be writing about but here we are on August 16th, 2020. The initial thought on December 9th 2017 was that the “Empire is Back” Judge and Stanton are gonna combine for 100 HR’s. Well that hasn’t happened yet and now we are realizing what we have gotten into. I love Giancarlo Stanton and I’m never gonna bash a Yankee as long as he’s in pinstripes but the man can’t stay healthy. It’s not a “why can’t Giancarlo hit” problem, it’s a “how long can Stanton last without getting injured” type problem. Everything leading up before the Stanton trade was, “ The New York Yankees are destined to get Bryce Harper because it makes sense.” And why did people think it was destiny? It’s because Harper is the biggest personality in baseball and him in New York City would feel right. This would have been the biggest Yankee signing since CC Sabathia in 2009. Harper’s left handed bat would have racked in Yankee Stadium and was destined to hit 40+ HR’s with the Yankees. At the time did I understand the Stanton trade and did it make sense? Yes it completely made sense, the Yankees were in most win mode coming off a season where they overachieved and was only one win away from the World Series against the Asterisks. Getting Stanton at the time was a must win now situation and automatically made them the favorites. But the injury bug got to Judge in the 2018 campaign so Stanton and Judge never got a chance. 2019, the injury bug got to Stanton and didn’t even play 20 games last year. And currently Judge and Stanton are both on the IL.
2020 Yankees Lineup with Harper instead of Stanton:
- DJ LeMahieu (2nd)
- Aaron Judge (RF)
- Bryce Harper (DH)
- Gary Sanchez (C)
- Aaron Hicks (CF)
- Gleyber Torres (SS)
- Luke Voit (1st)
- Gio Urshela (3rd)
- Brett Gardner (LF)
Why Harper over Stanton?: Ok let’s compare contracts Bryce Harper (13 yrs/$330m) to Giancarlo Stanton (13 yrs/$325m) ok there’s not really a difference right? Well there is because Stanton’s money is more towards his back end of his contract and Harper’s is more on the front end and that is what you want for you franchise as a guy gets older. Harper’s contract is higher but will be making $22m in his last year compared to Stanton’s $25m in his last year. Plus Harper is the younger one so he’ll be racking until at least the 2026 season. In 2019, Harper played 157 games compared to Stanton’s 16 games, and it was technically a “down year” for Harper even though it really wasn’t. People call Bryce Harper overrated so much now that Bryce Harper is underrated. And so far in the 2020 season Harper is racking again for a good BA, OPS, and SLG%.
TheDyspatch 