Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton expected to make decision on whether he wants to continue playing

Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton expected to make decision on whether he wants to continue playing originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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As the New York Yankees make decisions with Giancarlo Stanton over the next couple of months, there are many factors that could be at play. 

For one, if the Yankees do decide to move on from Stanton, this would be the best time to do so. The Yankees could end up moving on from him and not be killed financially for once, and considering the injuries that he’s dealt with throughout his career, there might not be much of a reason to keep him around any longer, as unfortunate as that might sound. 

The Yankees will ultimately have to make that decision. Stanton is well-liked in the clubhouse and is a respected veteran.

While many decisions will be from the Yankees’ side of things, it’s also possible that Stanton will have a say in things. It might not even be crazy to say that he doesn’t want to play any longer.

“My expectation is that this will be up to Stanton. If he wants to try to play again – and he is just 44 home runs shy of 500 – I think the Yankees will give him that chance. Even if he is a semiregular designated hitter and a huge bench bat, his clubhouse presence probably justifies keeping him around. But his legs clearly gave out on him this year, which is not a good sign for a player with chronic elbow pain, too. I would not be surprised if he decides to call it after this season, though to be very, very clear, I have not heard anyone who would know suggest that is imminent,” Chelsea Janes wrote.

Being 44 home runs shy of 500 sounds good in theory for Stanton, but with his injury history, it remains uncertain how much he’ll even have a chance to get close to that number. 

He hit only three home runs this year because he’s played in 24 games, and he blasted 24 the year before because he played in just 77. Unfortunately, this will probably be at least a two-year thing, and that would require him to play close to 100-plus games.

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