It may have been imprudent to say it out loud, but Yankees GM Brian Cashman hardly was incorrect when he painted Giancarlo Stanton as an injury-prone player who endured a terrible 2023 season.
The Yankees’ frustration with Stanton never has been clearer after the former MVP missed more than 60 games with his latest ailments and batted a career-worst .191 with a measly .695 OPS in 101 appearances as part of an 82-80 team-wide Bronx disaster.
The 33-year-old Stanton wouldn’t be easy to move anyway, with four guaranteed years remaining on the 13-year, $325 million deal he signed with the Marlins in 2014.
His albatross deal also includes a full no-trade provision, but even if it didn’t, he’d be able to refuse any trade because he has 10-5 rights — at least 10 years of major league service time including at least five with his current team.
Remember, Stanton invoked this clause when the fire-sale Marlins attempted to deal him to the Cardinals and the Giants before the Yankees swooped in to acquire him ahead of the 2018 season.
The move also essentially precluded the Yankees from diving into the deep end of the free-agent pool the following winter, when superstar position players fitting the team’s needs — namely Bryce Harper and Manny Machado — were among those available on the open market.
In Stanton’s six seasons already with the Yankees, he has played in just 63 percent of their games (549 of 870), including lengthy stints on the injured list in all but 2018, when he appeared in 158 during his first year in The Bronx.
Still, that season also featured a dramatic fall-off in production across the board for the 2017 NL MVP with the Marlins — in home runs (59 to 38), RBIs (132 to 100) and OPS (1.007 to .852).
He then made just 41 appearances over the next two seasons combined due to biceps, knee and hamstring injuries. He also missed time in 2021 and 2022 with quad, ankle and Achilles issues before landing on the IL again this season with another hamstring strain.
“We can talk about it and we’re talking about Stanton, trying to limit the time he’s down,” Cashman said last week. “But I’m not gonna tell you he’s gonna play every game next year. Because he’s not. He’s going to wind up getting hurt again more likely than not because it seems to be part of his game. But I know that when he’s right and healthy, other than this past year, the guy’s a great hitter and has been for a long time.
“I know he’s frustrated by it,” Cashman added. “We know he’s certainly better than what we saw last year.”
Those comments, part of an answer about injury issues during a defiant, expletive-filled session at the GM meetings, whether calculated or not, may serve to make Stanton more open to a relocation during an offseason in which the Yankees could pursue a trade for Padres superstar outfielder Juan Soto.
But then came the clap-back warning by Stanton’s agent, Joel Wolfe, suggesting such thinking could affect how his other prominent clients, such as Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, approach signing with the Bombers.
“I think it’s a good reminder for all free agents considering signing in New York, both foreign and domestic, that to play for that team you’ve got to be made of Teflon, both mentally and physically because you can never let your guard down even in the offseason,” Wolfe told The Athletic.
Wolfe coming to the defense of Stanton is no surprise, and maybe his public response turns out simply to be a way of extracting a few extra bucks from the Yankees in the chase for the 25-year-old Yamamoto.
But Stanton’s future in the Bronx — and at the very least, his playing time as the team’s primary designated hitter in 2024 — have to be considered in question after Cashman’s public criticism.
Today’s back page
Joining the scouts
Landing the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft is at least in play now for the sinking Giants, who enter their Week 11 game against the Commanders at 2-8 and currently in the No. 2 draft position, behind only the 1-8 Panthers in the pecking order.
Kyler Murray’s return last week from an ACL injury already has resulted in one win for the Cardinals (also 2-8), and perhaps a late-season improvement by 2023 No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young will help the Panthers — whose first-round pick is controlled by the Bears — in their final eight games.
With Daniel Jones (torn ACL) done for the year and fill-in rookie Tommy DeVito showing few signs of being capable of winning games, the Giants should at least project to land among the top few picks in a quarterback-rich draft.
If you want to check out some of the projected top players available next spring in the coming weeks, here are the remaining schedules for their college teams:
Caleb Williams, QB, USC
The reigning Heisman winner and his Trojans (7-4) are bowl-eligible entering their final regular-season Pac-12 game Saturday against rival UCLA (3:30 ET, ABC). But they’ve dropped back-to-back games against top-10 conference opponents Washington and Oregon.
Drake Maye, QB, North Carolina
The sophomore quarterback and the Tar Heels (8-2) still have two ACC road games remaining the next two weeks against Clemson (3:30 ET, ESPN) and N.C. State.
Marvin Harrison Jr., WR, Ohio State
The third-ranked Buckeyes (10-0) face Minnesota on Saturday (4 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network) and then Michigan the following weekend in a game that will decide which of the rivals will represent the East division in the Big Ten title game.
Olumuyiwa Fashanu, OT, Penn State
After a crushing loss last week to Michigan, the Nittany Lions (8-2) have conference games left against Rutgers on Saturday (noon ET, FS1) and Michigan State next Friday.
Dallas Turner, Edge, Alabama
Projected as the first defensive player selected, Turner and the No. 8 Crimson Tide (9-1) have a gimme game Saturday against Chattanooga (noon ET, ESPN+) and then Auburn and top-ranked Georgia for the SEC title the following two weeks.
A stone Cole victory
The only suspense to Gerrit Cole’s first career Cy Young Award was whether the Yankees ace would win in a unanimous decision by the BBWAA.
Cole indeed earned all 30 first-place votes to easily outdistance second-place finisher Sonny Gray of the Twins for his first career Cy Young designation.
The $324 million righty had finished second to Astros teammate Justin Verlander in 2019 and to Toronto’s Robbie Ray in 2021.
The 33-year-old Cole also became the first Yankee to win the award since Roger Clemens in 2001, joining Ron Guidry (1978), Sparky Lyle (1977), Whitey Ford (1961) and Bob Turley (1958) as members of the franchise to take home the hardware since it first was handed out in 1956.
“It’s just such an historical franchise with such historical players,” Cole said. “It’s just a bit surreal to be regarded with, for example, the other five Cy Young award winners we’ve had over the years. … So it makes me tremendously proud that I’m holding up my end of the bargain in terms of those great players and those great legacies. I’m contributing to the overall brand of what we do in New York.”
The scoreboard
Knicks 116, Hawks 114: Make that four wins in five games for Knicks (6-5), who rallied from a seven-point deficit with less than five minutes remaining on the road. Julius Randle put up 29 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists as he continued to surge, and Jalen Brunson had 24 points — including the decisive bucket on a pullup jumper with 19 seconds left — and eight assists. Quentin Grimes was forced from the game with what initially was termed a “bruised hand.”
Canucks 4, Islanders 3 (OT): Another dagger for the skidding Islanders. Their sixth straight loss came after Bo Horvat had scored in his Vancouver homecoming to give the Isles a 3-1 second-period lead. They allowed three power-play goals in all, including the third-period equalizer at 5-on-3, before Quinn Hughes won it for the Canucks in overtime.
What we’re reading 👀
✈ Amazing story in The Post about how Mark Jackson lost his MSG Network broadcasting gig before it even started.
🏈 The Post’s Brian Costello looks at the factors the Jets will have to consider as they approach a potential Aaron Rodgers return in December. Maybe it’s as simple as Rodgers dictating what he wants. But what about the danger for 2024?
🏀 The St. John’s loss to Michigan wasn’t a catastrophe, writes The Post’s Zach Braziller, but Rick Pitino’s Johnnies have work to do — starting Thursday in their Charleston Classic opener against North Texas.
⚾ More changes to the pitch clock could be coming next season.
⛳ Guess Rory McIlroy is done being golf’s moral compass.
🏀 Draymond Green’s chokehold is going to cost him nearly $770,000 in game checks. Expensive pro wrestling audition.
🏀 Interesting, uh, wrinkle in the Kelly Oubre Jr. hit-and-run story.
🎾 Why is Alexander Zverev allowed to play at the ATP Finals?