TAMPA, Fla. — Giancarlo Stanton feels his Yankees career is lacking.
“It’s definitely incomplete,” he said ahead of his ninth season in pinstripes. “The point of being a Yankee is being a champion.”
Now 36 and entering the final two guaranteed seasons of a $325 million, 13-year contract he signed with the Miami Marlins, Stanton has gone on the injured list in seven consecutive seasons but has been a force when healthy.
After missing New York’s first 70 games last year because of inflammation in the tendons of both elbows, he hit .273 with 24 homers, 66 RBIs and a .944 OPS in 77 games.
His elbows require constant treatment.
“I’m good. Ready to go,” Stanton maintained. “As I said before, it’s not going anywhere. It’s always going to be maintenance, but it didn’t hinder me from any work.”
He said the preparation is “a lot of hold, strengthening, make sure I’m able to maintain holding and swinging with power and throwing.”
A five-time All-Star and the 2017 NL MVP with the Marlins, Stanton has a .258 average with 453 homers — most among active players — and 1,169 RBIs in 16 big league seasons. He is key component in the Yankees batting order.
“With us over the last couple of years (having) become more and more left-handed, his presence in the middle is just really big,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s like having that guy lingering there, that’s Big G in the middle.”
Stanton had 38 homers with 100 RBIs in his first season with New York in 2018, but missed 266 of 708 games over the next five seasons because of a series of strains of right biceps, right knee, left hamstring (twice) and left quadriceps along with right ankle inflammation and left Achilles tendinitis.
Noticeably slimmer in 2024, he limited his lost time to 28 games for a strained left hamstring. Stanton finished with 27 homers and 72 RBIs in 114 games and added seven homers and 16 RBIs in 14 postseason games.
He isn’t thinking about career stats.
“Numbers like the next one and the next one is good for now,” he said. “Those numbers, 500 or what not, is the same as we’re going to win the World Series right now. You got each day to do work and prove and do something positive.”
Stanton is owed $64 million in guaranteed money by the Yankees: $29 million this year, $25 million in 2027 and a $10 million buyout of a $25 million club option for 2028. He comes at a discount because the Marlins owe the Yankees $30 million to offset part of what remains in his contract: $5 million each on July 1 and Oct. 1 in 2026, 2027 and 2028.
However, his salary for purposes of the Yankees’ luxury tax payroll is $25 million and since New York is likely to pay the top tax rate of 110%, he adds $27.5 million to the team’s tax bill.
Teammates look to Stanton for succinct tips before they bat.
“He just processes things really well and really gains from the things he sees: the experience, the times he faces a pitcher, how he processes that and puts it to use in future at-bats against guys,” Boone said. “I think he knows himself incredibly well as a hitter, but his presence with just the makeup of our club is huge.”