Full disclosure: SU has always been an A-Rod fan. Sure, he is flawed as a human being and made some bad decisions in his career but I have always viewed him as a knucklehead who made bad choices with PEDs, lying, etc.
If you recall when A-Rod was with the Texas Rangers, he would always start the season poorly and then catch fire once they were far, far out of the playoff hunt. He was very good in July through September. Hit well in the meaningless games. SU believes that Giancarlo Stanton is a similar type of player. He was a big-time hitter in Miami when no one was watching and no one cared. Now that the spotlight is on him in New York, he is coming up small. He is over-matched at the plate by any hard thrower. SU is not saying that he’s not trying or not competitive. He is such a big swinger that it almost seems physically impossible for him to put the bat on the ball against the big time pitchers.
He should have a shot tonight against Kuechel who doesn’t throw hard. But Boone needs to drop him further down in the line up – and further down than 5th. He is striking out at an historic rate. SU says check your ego at the door. These are the Yankees and the line up is not made based on annual salary. Plus putting him down to 6th or 7th would take the pressure off and allow him to put up Dave Kingman numbers for the season. He does not seem to have the spine for New York – much like A-Rod didn’t in 2004 when he joined the Yankees and certainly in October except for 2009.
SU is ready to be proven wrong.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
I am not worried about Stanton. I didn’t like the pickup but I don’t think he’s necessarily hurting the team right now. Sure, his numbers are underwhelming but note that his numbers for April are only 2 HRs and 1 RBI off his April 2017 numbers. Recall that Judge was the power hitting story of 2017 until later in the season when Stanton took off. The biggest issue with Stanton is that he prevented them from addressing other areas of concern in the off season. Even if Stanton was performing, they’d benefit more from a starting pitcher or first baseman.
Hasn’t he played every game this season? Need to sit him down for a game as well- tomorrow would be a good choice as he’ll never touch the McCullers curveball. Can’t wait for Giles to come into a game in the Bronx- fans will be merciless.
Stanton is one of the top 5 hitters in the game. One month is a very short sample to make such a negative call. You will be gushing when he hits his 30th HR by August 7th.
With Tyler Austin back in the line up what will the Yankees do with Neil Walker? Yanks need a starting pitcher. How’s about Matt Harvey for Walker straight up? Dollars are pretty close. Maybe Boone’s tremendous communication skills can get through to him. Any thoughts?
Let’s not forget Judge had two months last year that were arguably worse than Stanton’s April 2018 and he finished 2nd in MVP voting. I’d imagine much of Stanton’s struggles are mental but it’s also May 2nd. If/when he turns it around, the swinging and missing Yankees will have a *generational* lineup.
I am hoping Stanton can change things around but he has played in almost all 29 games…. that’s almost 20% of the regular season. How long does an MVP need before he is what he is. Mental? Physical? Does the American League have better quality pitchers? I’d like to see some of the games he performed well in last season. I can’t believe he was that good to win the MVP. Hey… he had 2 home runs in the first game. Were they pitching it underhand to him? Only 3 home runs since day 1. At a crisp 230 average versus Sanchez at a smoking 210 is there any question who is the better hitter and scarier hitter to pitch to?
Sanchez, I predicted to be the NYY MVP and a candidate for the League’s MVP. He is certainly showing that.
Move Andujar up to #2, Judge to 3, Didi to #4, Sanchez to #5, Hicks to #6 and move Stanton back down to #7. If Gardner continiues to stink the maybe Torrez moves into the 1 hole and Gardner bats 9th. We have so many great hitters its hard to go wrong…. but definitely move Stanton out of the top 5 spots.
Attention Contact Hitters; For the first time in MLB there were more strikeouts in a month than hits. I guess as much as i am amazed how often OUR team strikes out we are not alone. Last night alone collectively there were 27 strikeouts and 13 hits. The all or nothing approach has certainly changed the way the game is played now. Is that good or bad?
PS Only 2 behind the Red Sox and we are half way through the tough schedule
Too many Stanton apologists here. I agree he will likely have the stats by the end of the season but in terms of any of his hits being impactful, well aside from opening day, we have nothing else to show so far. Again, this was like A-Rod – many of his home runs came with the score 9-1 and the game well in hand. It just may take Stanton a year to get his feet grounded. Plus no doubt there is an injury on the horizon as he rarely stays healthy for a full season.
Agreed- he swings and misses at so many pitches, both low and high, plus the stats don’t lie- note that Austin has more RBIs than Stanton in about half the at bats, and that Judge has only struck out a handful of times fewer but is batting about 100 points higher.