Should Giancarlo Stanton just retire?
The Yankees slugger revealed some shocking details about his elbow(s) injuries.
When he is on the field, New York Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton is still one of the best hitters in baseball. But at what point are the injuries too much?
A quote from Stanton to NJ.com’s Randy Miller has understandably gone very viral.
“I can’t open a bottle,” Standon said. “I can’t open a bag of chips … a bag of anything. That’s the way it is.”
What?
Did Stanton really just admit that to a reporter on the record? But that is not all he said.
Stanton, who is entering his age-36 season, missed two-and-a-half months to start last season with epicondylitis, more commonly known as tennis elbow, in both elbows. Miller began his conversation with Stanton by asking about his elbows.
Here is his full response.
“That’ll never be the case,” Stanton said. “Not while I’m in this line of work. You have your good days and bad days, just like your mood and everything.”
Enough is enough. If Stanton’s elbow injuries have not improved, he is in this much constant pain and does not believe it will improve while he is still playing, he should think about retiring.
Stanton even admitted to Miller that surgery would fix the problem, but he was not willing to consider it because of the chance of it negatively impacting his swing.
“You get the surgery and you can go back to being in the general population in a few months, but my job is to put some of the most force into a batted ball,” Stanton said. “That’s not going to be fixed in surgery, and I don’t care what any doctor says because they don’t know what’s going on. What’s written [about my elbows] is what me and the Yankees give you.”
It is admirable to a certain extent to see Stanton pushing through this much to still try and get on the field. Not only is Stanton dealing with injuries to both elbows, but is still clearly impacted by some sort of lower body issue and is one of the least mobile players in MLB.
He had the fourth-slowest sprint speed in all of baseball at 23.5 feet per second and the slowest home to first time at 5.22 seconds according to Baseball Savant. Stanton is also realistically no longer able to play the outfield at a Major League level. Those deficits were especially clear when he had to be stuck in the field for 20 games last season when Aaron Judge was returning from a shoulder injury and unable to throw.
Stanton has two years of team control plus a club option for the 2028 season left on his infamous 13-year, $325 million contract and is still a very valuable hitter. In just 77 games last year, less than half of a season, Stanton hit .273/.350/.594 with a ridiculous158 OPS+ along with 24 home runs and 66 RBI. Stanton crushed seven postseason home runs during the Yankees’ run to the World Series in 2024.
No one is doubting he can still hit. But from the Yankees’ perspective, especially for someone as injury-prone as Stanton who has not played a full season since 2021, it may be better for them as well to be able to have the DH spot open based on the rest of their roster.
Judge will turn 34 in April and has dealt with his share of injuries and could benefit from some consistent DH opportunities. That would in turn open up more outfield opportunities for Jasson Dominguez and Spencer Jones (Jones hit two home runs during the Yankees’ spring training matchup against the Atlanta Braves on Thursday). It would also give Ben Rice, who has spent time at catcher and first base, a more natural spot in the lineup.
Stanton is 47 home runs away from 500. He has not won a World Series. He still has two years left on his contract. He is still hitting at an elite level.
If Stanton’s injuries have gotten so bad to where they are impacting his ability to perform daily tasks and he is freely admitting those issues to the media, the conversation about a potential early retirement unfortunately must be had.
Maybe there's a team that would take him in a trade. That way the spot is cleared for Judge to DH more often, How about a reunion with the Marlins? They could use a spark in their lineup and I think they are still paying part of his contract.
How would that work? I need a diagram. Marlins pay part of Stanton's contract but then the Yankees trade Stanton and pay most of his contract but some of that money comes from the Marlins.
It may be worth a conversation, but it's a conversation I'm sure Stanton is having with his family, doctors, and the Yankees organization, not a conversation that random strangers (or doctors who haven't examined him) on the internet will have much worthwhile to add to. Is playing through this a choice I would make? Probably not. But I'm not Giancarlo Stanton and he knows the value and meaning baseball has for him far better than I do. I just hope he's not using potentially harmful drugs to manage it; if he is, that's a different conversation entirely.
If the conversation is about whether or not he still provides value:
- The idea that he is a liability to the Yankees seems factually unfounded. G carried the Yankees offensively at multiple points over the last two years while dealing with these same injuries. He had one of the best postseasons in history in 2024 with these injuries. The fact that he doesn't start every day actually offers them more flexibility for the starting lineup, and a fantastic weapon off the bench - he's become an extremely valuable pinch-hitter. Even time spent on the IL helps them get more playing time for those other players you mentioned. The Yankees have been demonstrably better with G than without him. So that portion of the argument doesn't really hold up.
- This is literally what a DH spot is for - Schwarber can't play the outfield either and no one even suggests he consider retiring, even if he spent time on the IL and had lingering effects. Most teams would love to have a half season of Schwarber for as long as he wanted to play.
- And part of the reason people would love having Schwarber is the same reason the Yankees love having G -- he's basically an unofficial co-captain and coach who has learned to communicate his knowledge and experience to other players and keeps them all pointing in the right direction.
So this post doesn't really reflect the reality of the Yankees' position with Stanton.