Yankees trade for Giancarlo Stanton brings odd response from Bill Madden

Stanton Only Has Five Good Years Left in Him

Of course, the real downside is that, once he hits 33, his numbers will plummet. In order to prove Mr. Madden’s assertion, I chose a random sample of sluggers from throughout the centuries.

I did choose two players whose numbers I did not use: Hank Greenberg and Mickey Mantle. Hank served in WWII during his both age 32 and 33 seasons, while Mantle’s numbers were indeed significantly worse year to year. Otherwise, this is the complete list of randomly selected hitters and their slash lines from their age 32 and 33 seasons.

                                               Age 32                                      Age 33

Babe Ruth:                         .356/.486/.772                      .323/.463/.709

Yogi Berra                          .251/.329/.438                      .266/.319/.471

Harmon Killebrew          .210/.361/.420                      .276/.427/.584

Reggie Jackson                .274/.356/.477                      .297/.382/.544

Ken Griffey, Jr.                  .264/.358/.426                      .247/.370/.566

Jim Thome                         .266/.385/.573                      .274/.396/.581

Both Killebrew and Griffey dealt with injuries during those years, but injuries are a natural part of the game. It just doesn’t seem as if Mr. Madden’s doom and gloom scenario are supported by those pernicious facts. It at least adds one more good year to Stanton’s outlook.

Miss. Inform-Ation

But that was too little misinformation for Mr. Madden to spread. No, in his summary analysis, he makes a much more broadly negative implication when he asks,

"What’s going to be the case when he hits his 30s?"

So, now Stanton will become a bust at the moment he hits his thirties. No baseball fan believes that because it’s just not true. I don’t have to do another chart to prove something even casual observers wouldn’t believe.

In fact, not only do most players have several of their best years in their early thirties, but also some have at least one career year after the age of 34.

I don’t expect Bill Madden or any other of these writers to be cheerleaders for the Yankees. And he is free to be a grumpy old man if he wants to be.

But resorting to distorted reporting is beneath this venerable reporter. Few fans are as consumed with stats as baseball fans, and distorting them for personal reasons is an odd choice for a baseball man such as he.

The New York Times Tyler Kepner didn’t distort the news, but he sure seems bummed out by it.