Yankees Miss on Heyward; Dodge Stanton

After warming up for the off-season with minor moves (signing OF Chris Young and trading C Francisco Cervelli for LHP Justin Wilson), Yankee GM Brian Cashman sat on the sideline and saw a potential future right fielder for the Yankees get traded – to someone else. 

More from Yankees News

• Aaron Judge Time interview scared Yankees as much as it scared you
• Why weren’t Yankees in on Kodai Senga now that we know the price?
• Baseball Reference proves Yankees’ Aaron Judge lives rent free in Boston
• Yankees’ Clay Holmes trade just became even bigger disaster for Pirates
• Mets stealing New York Post’s entire Yankees offseason plan is hilarious

Jason Heyward, Atlanta Braves right fielder, was dealt to the St. Louis Cardinals in a four-player trade, with the Cards shipping righty Shelby Miller to the Braves. Sitting here in the frosty mid-Atlantic, I can’t help but think that Heyward could have been a long-term answer to the Yanks’ problems. Sure he only has one year left on his contract, but did you ever see the Yanks not keep someone they really wanted (same goes for the Cards)?

I’d love to know if Cashman was in on any talks for Heyward.  If the Braves were looking for young, cheap power arms, the Yanks could have offered Shane Greene (similar to Miller, but not as experienced), Manny Banuelos (who is beginning to get a Dan Pasqua feel about him) or one of the other arms always mentioned as potential major leaguers.

Heyward, with a .351 OBP last year, would look perfect batting at the top of the order or taking fly balls in right field. At 25, the 6’5” lefty could learn to harness his power and leverage the short right field porch in the Stadium to become a premiere player in the AL. With a one year audition, Heyward could have reaped the Yankees’ budget windfall expected for the 2016 season. He could have easily dropped into current RF Carlos Beltran’s slot (ouch).

The bad news is that we’re only left to wonder what Heyward would look like in pinstripes. The good news is that the Yanks dodged a very expensive bullet.

According to reports, the Miami Marlins reached a (very) long-term agreement with MVP candidate Giancarlo Stanton. The 13 year, $325 million contract makes the 25-year old right fielder the highest paid player and will pay him more than the $292 million, 10-year deal Miguel Cabrera agreed to with the Detroit Tigers in March. Of course, Yankee fans are more than familiar with the largest previous deal, for Alex Rodriguez, a $275 million, 10-year deal that continues to haunt the Yanks.

Stanton led the NL with 37 homers and a .555 slugging percentage for the Marlins this year, and came in second in NL MVP voting this year. No doubt that Stanton, known for his tape measure home runs, would have filled seats and thrilled fans, but that contract will be paying him an average of $25 million per year through his age-38 season.

How many sluggers are $25 million men at 38? Not without a ‘little help from your friends.” Combine that with Stanton’s inability to finish a season healthy – he’s only made it to 150 games once in his five year career – and you’re looking at a contract liability that Yankee fans would be complaining about in 5-10 years.

We’ll be moving on from each of these players, unless we’re discussing free agent Heyward at this time next year, or try and sign Stanton in 2020 if he opts out.