TAMPA – The Yankees could begin the season with out their designated hitter.
Giancarlo Stanton acknowledged that he’s “definitely behind” schedule, as he’s coping with two tennis elbows. Whereas he famous that he has a number of weeks to catch up this spring, he isn’t certain if he’ll be prepared for Opening Day on March 27.
“We’ll see how that goes,” he mentioned earlier than the Yankees’ first full-squad exercise on Monday morning.
Aaron Boone shared Stanton’s accidents on Sunday. He was additionally non-committal about Opening Day.
“I don’t know,” the supervisor mentioned. “We’ll see. Tough to say. I’m not going to put any timeline on it. We’re just going to be smart with it and kind of listen to it.”
Boone mentioned that Stanton performed with unhealthy elbows late final season and all through an explosive postseason. Stanton mentioned that he was coping with at the very least one unhealthy elbow for many of final 12 months.
“Just gonna give as much time as possible before we gotta get rolling for a full year here,” Stanton mentioned. “Definitely not just soreness. It’s a manageable thing. That’s how last year [went] and this year will go.”
Requested if his elbows obtained worse in the course of the offseason, Stanton replied, “The pain was very high in general.” Whereas he declined to say precisely when or how the problems first flared up, the 2 elbows started hurting about two months aside.
“Tennis elbow, or however they call it, is tears in your tendon. So it’s not, ‘When did it feel good? When did it feel bad?’ There’s always a pain level there. You gotta deal with that. This is the wisest point to give time right now.”
Stanton added “absolutely not” when requested if he ever thought of sitting throughout an October run that noticed him whole seven residence runs, 16 RBI, a 1.048 OPS and an ALCS MVP trophy.
Stanton, who slashed .233/.298/.475 with 27 homers and 72 RBI throughout a bounce-back 2024 season, has not swung a bat in 3-4 weeks. He’s been doing loads of forearm and tissue therapy, in addition to common train.
At this level, surgical procedure is just not a priority for the slugger.
“If you blow it up, which overdoing it would,” Stanton mentioned when requested if his elbows might require a process. “Obviously not what you want. That would be the same if anything were to tear off, but that’s not a worry.”
With Juan Soto now not within the lineup and the Yankees hoping different former MVPs Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt can flip again the clock, Stanton’s well being is significant. Shedding his right-handed swing for an prolonged interval would take critical slug out of the order. It will additionally damage the group’s steadiness after the Yankees obtained somewhat extra left-handed over the winter.
However Stanton has a protracted harm historical past, largely due to his decrease physique. He missed somewhat over a month with a hamstring pressure final 12 months and has additionally suffered Achilles, calf, quad and knee accidents since becoming a member of the Yankees earlier than the 2018 season, which prompted him to revamp his offseason routine and physique two winters in the past.
“He missed the one month [in 2024], but in and around that, the other five months, he was such a presence, whether it was in that four-hole or five-hole, night in and night out,” Boone mentioned. “He was a threat all the time. And in a lot of ways, it was probably his most consistent year in the last few and relatively steady health. He’s huge for us, especially 1739811139 that [we’re] a little more left-handed.”
It’s unclear how the Yankees would use the DH spot if Stanton lands on the injured listing. Gamers like Aaron Decide and Paul Goldschmidt might rotate there, creating extra alternatives for a youthful participant like Ben Rice or a backup like Trent Grisham, who’s working his method again from a hamstring harm.
One attainable silver lining: Stanton has gone on quick rehab assignments when he’s gotten damage up to now. It could not take him that lengthy to ramp up. It’s only a matter of when he begins that course of.
“This is just a time to get as much time as I can,” Stanton mentioned. “The idea is not to take down time. So this is the smartest time during a shorter offseason window to be able to do that.”
