Yankees Giancarlo Stanton is the Anti-Cliff Lee

The New York Yankees trade for Giancarlo Stanton reshaped the baseball landscape. But it is the reason he is on the team that should be equally exciting to Yankees’ fans.

The New York Yankees. Those words resonate through the history of the sport, and history itself; names such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, and Derek Jeter spring to mind. And the number 27.

If the franchise were to be summed up in one word, it would probably be, winning. Just as much as the Cubbies and Red Sox were known as lovable losers for decades, the Yankees are still known as a team of World Series victories, and baseball’s only true dynasties.

That might be a pleasant fate to have, but the team is still shackled to it. When the Yankees win, it’s a bigger story. The same is true when they lose, which is how it should be. Now, this goes for failing in any aspect of the game.

For instance, back in 2010, LHP Cliff Lee was one of the best pitchers in the game. And a free agent.

Serendipitously, the Yankees had the most money to spend. So, naturally, most observers assumed Lee would sign with the Bombers.

If you want a reminder of what that time was like, please read any of the stories that assumed Shohei Ohtani would also join the boys from the Bronx.

August Turns to Fall

Instead, on December 10th of 2010, Lee signed with his heartfelt favorite, the Philadelphia Phillies. This was back in the time when top free agents still signed before January.

Lee took less money, but he had good reasons. First, he loved the city, and it loved him. Plus, his wife had felt disrespected at a Yankees game. Those are excellent reasons, and everyone should stand up for the people they love.

However, those were not the deciding factors. And the single most significant reason flew in the face of Yankees’ expectations and was an affront to Yankees’ fans.

Falling Off of a Cliff

In radio interviews immediately after the deal was completed, Cliff made it clear that the reason he chose the Phillies over the Yankees is that he wanted to go where he felt he had the best chance to win.

He backed those comments up three years later in a 2013 interview with The Inquirer and philly.com:

Lee became an addict to the postseason after those two years and thought it was what he was getting into when he signed a 5-year, $120 million deal with the Phillies in December of 2010.

But afterward, Lee was clearly not content with the state of a team he expected to be a regular entrant into the playoffs. “The past year and a half hasn’t gone the way I would have anticipated,” Lee said. “It’s why you play the games.”

“I definitely want to win -there’s no doubt about that,” Lee said when asked if he wanted to remain in Philly. And what if the team is still going nowhere fast a month from now? “I want to win,” Lee repeated. “I don’t know how else to say it besides that.”

Ironic as Hell

By the time he made those comments, the Phillies had regressed. Lee had appeared in just one playoff game, and the team was now a disaster (73-89); Cliff wanted out.

When he signed, the stories were all about giving up the money for love. Now, he made it clear the primary factor was winning. After all, the city still loved him, even if attendance had declined, but Lee now wanted to leave.

You better believe that, had Brian Cashman called to work out a trade at that moment, Cliff would have been all for it. And that’s because Lee proved to be a far better pitcher than prognosticator.

Reason to Believe

His plan started perfectly in 2011, his first year back in red and white stripes. Philadelphia went 102-60, while the Yanks posted a 97-65 mark; each club won its division.

Of course, the difference was that Cliff Lee was in Pennsylvania putting up an ERA of 2.40 with 238 strikeouts (SO) in 232 innings pitched (IP). The Yankees were forced to counter with RHP Bartolo Colon, whom they still have the option of countering with today.

They absolutely will not do that, but that they can is noteworthy.

For his one-year stint, Colon posted the very decent 4.00 ERA. But he only contributed 164 IP with 135 SO. Not bad, but Lee would have improved the team. Coincidentally, both clubs were eliminated in their respective divisional series’.

But then their fortunes diverged.

When September Ends

Phillie plummeted the following year, going 81-81; that was good enough for just third in the NL East. Not that Lee was at fault, but, more’s the pity. He threw away his age 33-season by posting a 3.16 ERA while going 211 IP with 207 SO, all for a losing club.

Lee didn’t know it at the time, but his contract would outlast his career; he would soon be out of baseball.

Had he chosen the Yankees, he might have enjoyed this year more. They went on to win their division again in 2012, with a record of 95-67. Sadly, they lost in four straight against the Tigers in the ALCS.

Now, even if Cliff were on that team and dominated, the only difference would be that the Yanks would have lost 4-1. But he would have at least gotten deep into the playoffs, and still played meaningful games in October.

And the Yankees would have had a better regular season record. Swapping out Lee’s 30 starts finally for full-time replacement Phil Hughes and his 32 starts—which concluded with a 4.19 ERA, 191 IP, 165 SO—could not have but helped the team.

All Things are Relative

By 2013, Lee realized his true folly. Yes, the Yankees regressed to 85-77, third in the AL East. But, again, that would have been different had Cliff pitched in place of Hughes. That year, Phil finished with 29 starts and a 5.19 ERA.

The Phillies did even worse, however, as you can tell from the earlier quoted comments.

The team would go on to finish 73-89; again it was no fault of Lee’s. In his last great year, he marched up the mound thirty-one times and came back down with a 2.87 ERA. And he put up one SO for every IP: 222.

That probably pushes the Yankees to a wild card game. It indeed would have readjusted the overall staff numbers.

Phil was the only Yankees’ starter with at least 20 starts to post a supra-5.00 ERA. And with him out and Lee in, the Yankees’ top three starters would have had these ERAs: 2.87 (Lee), 3.10 (Ivan Nova) and 3.31 (Hiroki Kuroda).

That smells like a wild card berth.

But Lee had only himself to blame. He had committed a cardinal baseball sin: He picked a different team as the one most likely to win. That goes against everything the baseball gods have seemingly been working at for almost a century.

Like the Yankees Never Blow Things out of Proportion

For instance, when they missed on Lee, scribes took computers to laps to write things such as,

The Philadelphia Phillies’ stealth snatching of super free-agent pitcher Cliff Lee from the New York Yankees is a reflection not just of the odd laissez-faire of the Yankees’ front office (General Manager Brian Cashman is truly lucky George Steinbrenner is not alive) but the city itself. What emerged from New Yorkers and local sportswriters was an amalgam of shock, disappointment, and disbelief. Just about all of it was rooted in arrogance—how could anybody turn down New York and the Yanks? What was wrong with Cliff Lee?

I think that the “shock, disappointment, and disbelief” were more talked about outside of the city than felt by New Yorkers. Disappointment, yes; that is accurate, and perhaps emotions beyond that including a real sting of remorse. But shock? Disbelief?

However, it is only fair—when the big bad bullies on the block fail—to blow that failure out of proportion. That narrative lingered, as did the sting, for far too long.

Boo-Freakin’ Hoo

And that was happening again after Ohtani chose the not-Yankees. Joel Sherman wrote, in his piece entitled, Shohei Ohtani’s shocking snub leaves Yankees scrambling for Plan B:

The Yankees, who shockingly made the ALCS in a year when they were supposed to be in some form of a rebuild, did not even make it to the second round of the Shohei Ohtani derby when they were perceived as favorites. They will maintain the brave public face that they are still a good team and they will now pivot in another direction. For there was such buildup and anticipation of this player coming to the Bronx that it actually feels like they lost the rights to someone who was never even in their employ.

I’m starting to think it might just be that Joel is easily shocked. But it did reflect the public reaction, as did this:

Holy Smokes: Yankees Are *OUT* on Shohei Ohtani This is really wild stuff, as everyone thought the Yankees would be the frontrunner … and they don’t even get to full pitch him!

Yankees Sign Stanton; Holy Smoke

Although nothing could take away from what the Yankees did last year and were likely to do next even without Stanton, there was always going to be some snickering about the Yanks losing out on the most significant off-season acquisition.

Brian Cashman might like to point out that 28 other clubs were equal in this endeavor, but he needs to understand this is just part of the Yankees’ yin and yang.

That background noise might have grown into a full-throated conversation if the Yankees had failed to win the World Series. What if they had Ohtani? Maybe they cannot draw the top talent just because they’re the Yankees?

Maybe they are not the Yankees anymore.

But when Stanton signed, he quickly flipped the script. Once again were the Yankees the Evil Empire. And once again real World Series contenders.

Now it was the rest of baseball that was shocked. Fear and paranoia spread through the MLB landscape.

And this from ESPN:

If not for the Babe Ruth of Japan, the New York Yankees‘ new version of Mantle and Maris likely never would have been formed. And…now Stanton and Aaron Judge, two outfield behemoths, are teammates, putting together potentially the most devastating home-run-hitting combination in baseball history.

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Other teams are once again not just apprehensive about the Yankees, but outright scared. And that’s the way it was always supposed to be.

Stanton Goes with the Tide

Cliff Lee once made a conscious decision to stand against the tide, the tide of baseball history. It cost him. He threw away the last few great years of his career on a dream that never came true.

Now Stanton stands with time. He stands with history and the hallowed halls of fame; with pride, power, and pinstripes. And he comes to redeem the sins of players such as Cliff Lee.

Next: Yankees Daily News Writer John Harper is a Source for Concern

Yankees fans will appreciate Stanton’s play and Stanton’s power. But also they will understand that he values the team as the most likely to win, perhaps a self-fulfilling prophecy, and that he changed the feeling in Yankees Universe, and the narrative around the hot stove campfire.

They hope to baptize him with victory champagne some year soon if and when he comes home to glory in the Canyon of Heroes.

If so, New York Yankees fans might wonder if Cliff Lee will be watching.