Yankees immune to Boston-based Giancarlo Stanton rumor

Although Boston bias is very much alive and kicking, I find it hard to believe a rumor involving Giancarlo Stanton and Bryce Harper would merely be dreamt up to ruffle the feathers of the Yankees. Then again…

Writing for a Yankees blog, you learn a lot, not only about the team and its fan base but the politics of the sport and the constant whispers that often spread to social media like a dangerous wildfire.

Apparently, sports writers are always trying to one-up each another — to be the first to break a big story. Traditionally it’s good-natured competition that brings out the best in your storytelling.

However, every once in a while, someone gets called out — asked to identify their source. Revealing said source is never going to happen. It’s like asking the person who works at In-N-Out to give up the recipe for the secret sauce. And no, it’s not just thousand island dressing!

In my earlier days as a scribe, I was told the quickest way to lose a source is to go against their wishes and name ’em. Even in this era of “fake news,” believe it or not, not everything you read is fabricated. Considering that most people only read headlines when perusing the web, the term click-bait is thrown around way too quickly.

Look, as annoying as it can be for a journalist (yes, even those who write for a blog fall under this category) to begin a sentence with: “According to a source,” nine times out of ten, it’s the truth.

Be it because the person “we” heard this information from can’t reveal themselves for fear of losing their job or just want to stay anonymous because getting rumors into papers and the internet is a part of subterfuge — it’s all standard practice.

So when Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe released a bit of questionable information regarding Giancarlo Stanton, as much as I found it hard to believe, I still did my own research before throwing down the gauntlet.

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According to Cafardo, during the recently completed Winter Meetings, he was told from a “major force in the baseball world,” that the Yankees only intend to keep Stanton for one season, before trading him to the Dodgers to make room for Bryce Harper.

"Here’s one rumor told to me by a longtime, major force in the baseball world. It involves the Yankees and Giancarlo Stanton. The story goes that after 2018, the Yankees deal Stanton to the Dodgers and sign Bryce Harper. Your first reaction is, “Wow! Never happen.” Then you start to think about it. Stanton is an LA kid. The Dodgers didn’t have great interest in Stanton this offseason, but perhaps by the end of next year? The Yankees have always coveted Harper and his lefthanded stroke at Yankee Stadium. It starts to make more sense, doesn’t it?"

The thing is, Cafardo writes for a major newspaper. Yes, it’s Boston-based, and this “story” could merely be perceived as a shot to the city of New York as we ride high into the 2018 season, but I think Cafardo has a little more integrity than that.

Throw in the fact that we’ve already seen some “unreal” transactions this winter, and perhaps there is a smidge of viability to this rumor.

However, even if the Yankees are victorious in reducing their team salary below $197 million threshold this coming season, therefore resetting the luxury tax penalty in 2019 — when they’d only have to pay 20 cents on the dollar for any overages, versus the 50 cents now, Bryce Harper will still want a $400 million contract!

People complain that Stanton’s remaining $265 million is exorbitant, yet employing the 28-year-old slugger could cost the Yanks $135 million less than Harper. So how does this correlate to shipping Stanton out-of-town for a higher-paid, yet lesser hitter?

If Aaron Judge and Stanton indeed show signs of becoming the new Mantle and Maris, the pipe dream of Harper in pinstripes goes out the window forever. Besides, have you seen some of the other names that’ll be available via free agency in 2019?

Next: Yankees getting closer to inking Frasier?

Manny Machado, Josh Donaldson, Charlie Blackmon, Clayton Kershaw, Dallas Keuchel, Craig Kimbrel and Andrew Miller are just a few of the All-Stars that’ll become available next winter.