Giancarlo Stanton began spring training by saying he hadn’t swung a bat for three to four weeks because of pain in both of his elbows. The issue Aaron Boone described as “akin to tennis elbow” has become a little more worrisome than tennis elbow as a day after the Yankees manager said Stanton continued to receive treatment, Stanton was reportedly in New York for evaluation. That report was then somewhat rebutted by Boone who said Stanton’s trip to New York is “personal in nature” and “I’m going to leave it at that for now.” Just your normal, run-of-the-mill spring training injury mystery for the Aaron Boone Yankees.
Whether Stanton is in New York to have his elbows evaluated or not, he’s not in Tampa, he’s not at spring training and he hasn’t swung a bat in a month. Given Stanton’s injury history, it’s hard to feel anything other than extremely shitty about his chances of not missing a significant amount of time this season due to this injury (or is it injuries since it’s both elbows?)
If injuries didn’t seem to always progress from an annoyance to season-altering in the span of hours with the Yankees then I may be less worried about every injury announcement the team makes. And if this were a player other than Stanton, I may be less worried. But I know how it goes with Stanton, and I know how his rehab and recoveries generally go. We’re coming up on the six-year anniversary of a biceps strain becoming a shoulder strain becoming a calf strain during the same stint on the injured list for Stanton. It wouldn’t surprise me if the timetable for his return ends up being post-All-Star break. I’m prepared for that. It’s unfortunate the Yankees aren’t.
Prior to last season, it was Brian Cashman who said Stanton is “going to wind up getting hurt again more likely than not because it seems to be part of his game.” Sure enough, Stanton missed 48 regular-season games, equating to 30 percent of the season. Last year, the Yankees had Juan Soto to more than make up for an extended Stanton absence. A year later since Cashman made those remarks and a year older for Stanton and now without Soto, the Yankees’ offense needed help for 2025 even if Stanton were to play in 158 games like he did seven years ago in 2018. But in the Yankees’ annual attempt of letting their success hinge on a massive gamble, the first leg of their 2025 parlay is already in peril.
The Yankees are now going to open the season with three trustworthy bats out of their nine lineup spots. They’re going to have a 37-year-old first baseman coming off the worst two seasons of his career and clearly in decline; they’re going to have a 17-percent-worse-than-league-average bat at shortstop; they don’t know who’s going to play third base; they’re going to play a rookie in left field; they’re going to play a sophomore at catcher coming off a disastrous September/October and then they’re likely to frequently use the now vacated designated hitter spot for Aaron Judge, which means more playing time for Trent Grisham, who wasn’t good enough to play over Alex Verdugo in October (the same Alex Verdugo who remains unwanted by the entire league despite supposedly being in his prime at age 29). If only there was a time during the baseball calendar in which teams could buy the rights to proven, unsigned players, the Yankees would be able to take advantage of their vast financial resources to fill holes and add depth to the roster. If only such a time existed.
I have no issue with Stanton being hurt, considering that’s what he does: he gets hurt, just like Cashman said. What I do have an issue with is the Yankees’ lack of depth entering the season. When the general manager openly opines about the annual injuries to an important piece of the team’s offense and decides against defending the possibility of said player getting hurt it’s irresponsible.
Stanton missing 30 percent of 2024 was nothing new. Aside from his first season with the Yankees (2018) when he played in 158 games and played through a lingering hamstring issue, Stanton has missed an unbelievable amount of time. In 2019, he played in just 18 games, and in 2020, he missed 37 of 60 games (and would have missed at least half the season if the season was played in full as he was expected to be out until July). In 2021, he amazingly played in 139 games, but followed that up by playing in only 110 games in 2022 and 101 in 2023. Here is the breakdown of percentage of the season missed by Stanton during his Yankees tenure.
2018: 2%
2019: 89%
2020: 62%
2021: 14%
2022: 32%
2023: 38%
2024: 30%
In total, Stanton has missed 364 of a possible 1,032 regular-season games as a Yankee, or 35 percent.
Stanton’s bat has always been there in October. With 18 home runs in 41 games (a home run every 9.6 plate appearances) and a .994 postseason OPS, regular-season Stanton has always received a pass because of postseason Stanton. But the Yankees don’t get a pass. Not when they could have planned for the inevitable.
In the past, extended absences for Stanton during the regular season haven’t been as damaging as expected, and that’s because for a while he was a luxury on the Yankees roster. That’s no longer the case. The Yankees need Stanton for more than just October. They need him to get there.
The good news is the injury to both of Stanton’s arms apparently dates back to last season, and he supposedly played through it when he was destroying the pitching of the Royals, Guardians and Dodgers, so he has played with it and performed with it. The bad news is Stanton and the Yankees had four months to diagnose and treat the injuries and they didn’t, and now a large portion or more of his 2025 season is at risk.
I wish an easy answer to replacing Stanton and giving the Yankees a quality bat other than Judge, Cody Bellinger and Jazz Chisholm existed, but it doesn’t. Hal Steinbrenner doesn’t want to spend another dollar on the 2025 roster (he said as much this weekend), and even if he did, there’s no one worth signing.
I’m prepared for the worst when it comes to a return date for Stanton. I’m prepared for a lot of Judge at DH and a lot of Grisham in the lineup. I’m prepared for a lot of games needing to be won by the pitching staff. I know what an extended Stanton absence looks like and I’m prepared for what an extended Stanton absence entails. Somehow, the Yankees weren’t.
Last modified: Feb 24, 2025
