Yankees must part ways with Giancarlo Stanton from cleanup spot after a disappointing home opener

Entering the home opener 6-1 following a great road trip through Houston and Arizona, it would have taken a special type of stink bomb to wipe away even a fraction of the incredible vibes the 2024 Yankees brought home.

As has been the case with this series for the past decade, they provided a performance that smelled even worse than the ones you had nightmares about recently.

The morning began with the word that Jonathan Loaisiga had suffered an elbow injury and would be placed on the 60-day injured list. “Who will throw the seventh inning of a close game today?” that’s what you were wondering. “It doesn’t much matter; everyone in the bullpen seems to dominate,” you said, basking in your innocence.

There were plenty of goats in the final three frames of this game; thanks to Marcus Stroman, this was a beautiful scoreless game going into the eighth! Caleb Ferguson entered the eighth inning and was immediately tagged for Ernie Clement’s tiebreaking home run. Jose Trevino was given the opportunity to bat for himself in the eighth, struck out, and was unable to block three pitches that either squirted or rocketed away in the top of the ninth. Aaron Boone attempted to steal outs from newbie Dennis Santana on 35+ pitches before bringing in newcomer Nick Burdi with the bags packed; his control quickly abandoned him.

The final three innings of this one were “Bad News Bears”-ish, eliciting a succession of faint boos as the deficit grew. But the real culprit was the Yankees’ rebuilt offense, which was unable to touch Yusei Kikuchi after the mid-tier lefty was handed to them on a silver platter in front of a hungry audience. Sure enough, Juan Soto was held hitless. Aaron Judge appeared to be in preseason form. But they’ll be penciled into the two-three holes nonetheless; there was really nothing that could be done there.

Yankees fans blame Giancarlo Stanton, Jose Trevino, Aaron Boone for Home Opener stinker

What exactly was Giancarlo Stanton doing at the cleaning spot? The new-look G lost a lot of bulk this offseason and purportedly improved his swing/approach, but Friday’s game showed no signs of improvement. Even in 2023, when Stanton was losing significance, he could still hit lefties, with a.942 OPS in 68 at bats. If he continues to appear as whiff-prone and off-kilter as he did on Friday afternoon, he will no longer be allowed to guard Judge. If Jasson Dominguez returns healthy, he will most likely not be permitted back in the lineup.

Stanton’s two strikeouts in his opening two at-bats helped the Yankees achieve their first shutout in a home opener since 1967. Hopefully, Soto’s takeaway from this game was the warm reception he received, rather than the cold shoulder he likely gave to his cleanup hitter in the postgame locker room.

It’s not Stanton’s fault. He’s too far gone. Blame the man who placed him there.