New York Yankees: Reassessing the Stanton-Castro trade
The Postseason
Castro, of course, never played a post-season game for the Marlins. That means the question of the post-season contribution goes to Stanton by default, right? Maybe not. The Yanks reached post-season play in both 2018 and 2019, but it’s an entirely arguable proposition whether Stanton helped them in October.
During the 2018 post-season, Stanton had 22 plate appearances. They resulted in five hits—that’s a .227 batting average –one of them a home run. But that homer was meaningless, adding a seventh run in the eighth inning of the wild card game against Oakland when New York already led 6-2.
In the four-game division series loss to Boston, Stanton batted .222, coming to the plate 11 times with runners on base but failing to drive in a run. Five of those 11 potentially productive at-bats were strikeouts, and a sixth was a double play.
Stanton did not fare much better in the 2019 post-season. Across 13 official at-bats, he managed three hits – one a home run — this time driving in two runs. Four walks helped his on-base average. But he also whiffed five times. In the American League Championship; Series loss to Houston, injuries limited him to plate appearances and one RBI, a solo home run.
For the post-season as a whole, Stanton came to the plate with 10 runners on base and stranded nine of them.
That puts Stanton’s career post-season production in New York at a .235 average, two homers, three RBIs, a .737 OPS a dozen strikeouts, and a Win Probability Added of -0.35 games.
In other words, rather than Stanton’s presence enhancing the New York Yankees postseason hopes, he has actually been a liability.