Brian Cashman clears the air about his comments around Giancarlo Stanton's injuries: “My comments weren’t intended to poke anything"

It's seemingly not all good between Brian Cashman and Giancarlo Stanton after the New York Yankees general manager termed him "injury-prone" during the GM meetings in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Shortly after, Stanton's agent hit back at Cashman's comments, saying that all free agents who are considering signing with the Yankees need to be made of "Teflon":

However, Cashman has come forward to clear the air on the recent discussions regarding Stanton and his agent in a meeting with the media on Thursday night during his annual appearance at the Covenant House Sleep Out to raise awareness for homelessness:

“I feel like things got spun out of control with the coverage a week later,” Cashman said. “Obviously, I had a conversation with Joel Wolfe who I’ve known a long time and with our player, Giancarlo Stanton. And I feel like everything is in a good spot.”

Cashman mentioned that he had talked with Wolfe to settle the differences and what seemed to be an unintentional poke at the Yankees All-Star:

“I was surprised by how it got twisted and turned and played out. I said what I said, so that’s why I had those conversations,” Cashman added. “I value Giancarlo Stanton as a player, without a doubt he’s one of the few drivers when we do win.

"He’s one of the few players you bring to New York that doesn’t back down… handled himself in a professional manner through thick and thin. He’s one of the few players when money is on the line, you look at his postseason numbers it’s pretty impressive."

Cashman added that he valued Stanton's contribution to the Bronx. Furthermore, he cleared that he did not intend to poke anything and was just answering the question posed at the time:

“He’s a gifted, talented player and a feared hitter. You’d love to play him at all times. I made the phone calls. I was caught off guard about a week later when everything became something. My comments weren’t meant to poke anything at anybody. I was just answering a question posed to me and I answered it. Regardless, I have the utmost respect for both Joel and more importantly our player, Giancarlo Stanton.”

What did Brian Cashman say about Giancarlo Stanton's injury concerns?

Ahead of the GM meetings in Arizona, Cashman took note of Giancarlo Stanton's injury concerns during the season:

"We've gotta get Stanton up and running again," Cashman said in Arizona. "He's injury-prone. We all have lived and known that, but he's never not hit when he's playing, and this year is the first time that that's happened.

"We try to limit the time he's down," Cashman said. "But I'm not gonna tell you he's gonna play every game next year because he's not. He's going to wind up getting hurt again more likely than not because it seems to be part of his game. But I know that when he's right and healthy – other than this past year – the guy's a great hitter and has been for a long time." via New York News].

For context, Stanton was indeed not healthy in 2023 and missed as many as 61 games due to a hamstring strain, highlighting one of the key reasons why his season wasn't at par. In 101 games, the 34-year-old batted .191/.275/.420 with 24 home runs and 13 doubles.