GIANCARLO STANTON LOVE
I get it.
If there is one player in baseball who you can say has a legitimate shot to hit 50 homers it’s Giancarlo Stanton. He could win the MVP award. I agree with that. He’s a tremendous talent. I completely agree. He’s also a total mess. I will be saying in the upcoming 2016 Fantasy Alarm Draft Guide – it drops January 25th – that I’m not building my team around Stanton. Tremendous talent, but simply too risky. I’ll get to my reasons for that in a second. Here is a sampling of what I heard on Twitter the other day (@BaseballGuys) when I was told that I was dumb not to take Stanton in the 2016 FSTA Experts Draft.
How does Stanton fall to 16th overall? - @showtiime27
Why did you take Miguel Cabrera over Stanton? I'm still scratching my head on that one. - @thundergun101
Was on his way to MVP before getting hit in face in 2014 & had 27 HR & 67 RBI in 74 gm before break hand on swing - @ctmbaseball
Not indication of chronic injuries. He ate a ball 2 yrs ago ffs. - @udbrky
You're knocking him for the ball to the face?! - @injuryexpert
what if Stanton stays healthy? sometimes you have to take risks. - @nocturnalnati43
How this will be interpreted: "You hate Stanton and think he's garbage" – AlZeidenfeld
He hit 27 in only 74 games which is insane. He will play a full season eventually and you'll wish you had him. - @thundergun101
Over the last four seasons Stanton’s averaged 115 games played per year. People keep focusing on the ball hitting him in the head and they say I’m unfairly blaming him for that. That was one incident. He’s missed games with five other injuries the last three seasons. It’s not a chronic thing with Stanton, it’s everything. Bottom line he has missed an average of 47 games a season the past four years. That’s an average of two missed months a season. How can you build your team around a guy like that?
There were a couple of ‘what if’ or ‘when it happens’ kind of stuff with Stanton. My response to them was – who cares about that? That’s the argument that was made with Troy Tulowitzki for years. What if he plays 150 games? If he or Stanton play 150 games they could win the MVP. How many times have they played 150 games? Stanton appeared in exactly 150 games once (2011). Tulo has appeared in 150 games twice… the last time in 2009. That’s three 150 game seasons in 16 campaigns. I tried to sum up my thoughts succinctly on this matter on Twitter. Here is what I came up with. “Everyone wants to draft the ‘All Talent Team’ - that group rarely wins… We can all play the what if game. I choose to play the what is game. #ToEachTheirOwn.”
Finally, the production.
Stanton is a career .270 hitter.
Josh Reddick hit .272 last season.
Stanton has one season with seven steals.
Logan Morrison stole eight bases last season.
Stanton has one season with 90 RBI.
David Ortiz has 100 RBI each of the last three years.
Stanton has one season with 80 runs.
Gregory Polanco scored 83 runs last season.
Put another way… .270-90-80-7… those Stanton numbers… per 162 games for his career Curtis Granderson is at .257, 80 RBI, 103 runs and 15 steals.
I’m not building my team around a guy I cannot trust to be on the field. Taking a risk on a guy like that in the 9th round? Sure. But in the first or second? Not for me.
That was a good one says Skeletor…
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday, 7 PM EDT and Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 8 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).