Giancarlo Stanton Earning His $325M in Saving Judge-Less Yankees

Giancarlo Stanton donned a New York Yankees uniform as the reigning National League MVP but also a potential payroll albatross.

As he enters the stretch run of his first campaign in pinstripes, Stanton is playing the role of season-saving superstar and earning every penny New York is paying him.

With his doppelganger and co-slugger Aaron Judge on the shelf and New York's postseason hopes suddenly in flux, Stanton has hoisted the Yanks onto his ample shoulders.

Judge went down July 26 with a fractured wrist. In August, Stanton owns a 1.051 OPS with eight home runs and 18 RBI.

Here's a home run he launched Aug. 9 against the Texas Rangers that reached the bleachers at Yankee Stadium (at 121.7 mph, it was also the hardest-hit home run of the Statcast era, per MLB.com's Matt Kelly):

Note how radio play-by-play announcer John Sterling hardly had time to make a call before the ball was in the stands. That's how you know Stanton got all of it.

It's vintage Stanton, destroyer of baseballs. And it couldn't have come at a better time for New York.

The Yankees are seven games behind the Boston Red Sox and unlikely to catch their archrivals for the division crown. That said, they're in position to claim the American League's top wild-card position, thanks in large part to Stanton's exploits.

After opening August with five straight losses, they've gone 14-5 and quelled fears of a total collapse.

In addition to Judge, the team has been without the services of catcher Gary Sanchez, who is working his way back from a groin injury. Shortstop Didi Gregorius is sidelined with a bruised left heel.

Meanwhile, ace Luis Severino owns a 5.40 August ERA, and the rest of the starting rotation is a mishmash of uncertainty.

"It's good to produce anyway, anytime. But it's obviously more important than most times," Stanton said of his role as stretch-run savior, per Pete Caldera of the North Jersey Record. "Just got to step it up."

Stanton's Yankees tenure didn't get off to a roaring start. After the club acquired him from the Miami Marlins in the offseason's biggest blockbuster trade, he hit a paltry .218 in April with 40 strikeouts. He heard boos.

Now, despite wrestling with a balky hamstring, he's rediscovered the stroke that made him a four-time All-Star with Miami and one of the game's must-watch talents.

Most impressively, he's doing it for the Bronx Bombers in the heat of a playoff race. Putting up big numbers for the lowly Marlins while annually missing the postseason was one thing; leading the Yanks as they push toward October is another.

Mark Brown/Getty Images

"He's an elite-level slugger," manager Aaron Boone told reporters. "He's a big reason why we've been able to continue to win games."

He's done this late-blooming thing before. Last season, Stanton hit 38 home runs in his final 78 games en route to 59 homers. As they await the return of Judge, Sanchez and Gregorius and cross their fingers for the starting staff to pull its weight, the Yankees are surely hoping Stanton has another similarly Ruthian streak in the offing.

Maybe he can carry it into his first playoff foray. Pop your popcorn.

New York is paying Stanton $25 million this season. He'll earn $26 million in each of 2019 and 2020. After that, he can opt out and test the open market or opt in to a contract that was worth $325 million when he inked it with the Fish in November 2014.

That's a lot of coin, to state the painfully obvious. Then again, Stanton is 28 years old and in the prime of his impressive, dinger-launching career. He's a marketable star who seems to have found his place in the Big Apple after a shaky landing.

The Yankees might go shopping in the offseason. They could dip into their perennially deep pockets and sign Bryce Harper or Manny Machado.

They've already got a superstar, however. Judge, Sanchez, Gregorius and the bullpen may have their say. But Stanton is emerging as the man.

And if the Yankees want to ride deep into the playoffs, he's the guy who will carry them.

All statistics and contract information accurate entering play Sunday and courtesy of Baseball Reference.