Yankees trade for Giancarlo Stanton brings odd response from Bill Madden

Bill Madden: Yankees will pay in the long run for Giancarlo Stanton deal.

One thing I love about Bill Madden is that he does not mince words. Or hide his feelings, for that matter. But his initial outlook here just seems to be a bit negative for no reason.

For instance, in his first paragraph, Mr. Madden warns that,

"Deck your halls with boughs of holly over your new twin giants of power because not too far down the road this deal is destined to give the Yankees more regret than the second Alex Rodriguez contract."

And he ends by saying,

"For everyone in Yankeeland’s sake, especially Aaron Boone, they better win next year. Because the euphoria over this trade is almost guaranteed to have a short shelf life."

Really? Wow, that is going to suck. Except, the Yankees did win the World Series in 2009 directly because of A-Rod. The Yanks never arrive in Philly without Alex hitting clutch home runs against Minnesota and the Anaheim Angels of Wherever.

Seven is a Non-Magic Number

This brings us into perspective. If you are a spoiled Yankees fan, then one World Series might not seem like much. But regular Yankees fans, i.e. most of them, recognize that only seven teams have won a WS since ’09. And they also know that seven teams have never won a World Series.

Mr. Madden, let me ask you something. Let’s say we went back in time, to 2007. We go to the Mariners and we tell them that if they sign Alex, they will win a WS because of him but go on to have all the rest of the experiences the Yankees did, in fact, have.

Do you think they would think it worth it?

I think they would. I think they and most teams hunger for even one World Series. In fact, one World Series every decade would be far above average.

So, if your point is that the Yankees will have to suffer through winning a WS, but just that one, well, that’s a price I would guess most fans are gladly willing to pay.

Trapped

It seems as if Mr. Madden has fallen into a beat writer’s trap: Letting the Yankees eternal mission statement confuse him as to what success means in Major League Baseball. He’s spent so much time complaining about spoiled Yankees fans and their skewed perspective, he’s become one of them.

Sadly, that did not prove to be his only failing in neutrality. He falls back on generalizations in a spacious, sad to say fear-mongering, argument.

For instance, he initially warns that,

"It’s a fact of baseball life that players after the age of 32, start breaking down…"

Now that is pretty damning stuff. This trade already sucks. And I’m sure a writer, the caliber of Mr. Madden must have checked his facts before hitting print. Let’s do that, too.

First, though, he says that Stanton, like most players, will start to lose it at age 33. Okay, but as next year will be Stanton’s age 28 season, doesn’t that mean the Yankees will get at least five years of Stanton in his prime? In fact, aren’t they getting all five years of his prime?

By itself, that seems like a good deal. And if Giancarlo opts out after 2020, the Yankees will only have had him until he was 30. So far, that downside seems like it goes uphill.