Yankees trade for Giancarlo Stanton brings odd response from Bill Madden
By Cory Claus
Bob Nightengale: Yankees Evil Empire is in Full Force with Trade for Giancarlo Stanton
Mr. Nightengale is not a beat reporter, but instead is one of the national voices for USA Today. But again, he’s getting paid, which should make him above lazy reporting.
"You would think we’d learn our lesson from now, but, oh, how the New York Yankees fooled us again. Tricked us, really. They had us actually believing they were finally concerned about the luxury tax, convincing us this was going to be the winter they were going to get under the $197 million tax threshold, and reminding us the crazy days of A-Rod contracts were over in the Bronx. Silly us."
Now, Mr. Nightengale, I understand a good old knee-jerk reaction. There’s a rascally rabbit around here I really want to get my hands on. But, unless you have some really demanding part-time job, you might want to check your facts before spouting, even in your very cute, very curmudgeonly way.
Readers of this column know I am more than open to hyperbole, but it must be grounded in reality.
Numerous outlets are reporting what is easy to check: The Yankees can absolutely make this trade and stay under the penalty threshold for 2018. They could actually still add payroll for next season. Check out this report, or this one.
It would be hard to trust another report by Mr. Nightengale, at least on this topic. And that’s too bad because he is a respected and highly knowledgeable reporter, but he let his bias run away with him here. It distorts his story and pushes it to tangential, at best.
That, however, is not the only false narrative being spun in the wake of this mega-deal.