Injuries threatened to derail the Yankees at various points during the 2019 season.
In fact, the cascade of injuries started even before the first series of the season was in the books. Luis Severino went down in spring training, and Giancarlo Stanton got injured in just the third game of the new campaign. Stanton came back briefly in June for a week, but since then he has been out with a strained PCL in his left knee.
According to Aaron Boone, Stanton is “getting close” to a return to the team. The Yankees manager said as much when he joined Mike Francesa on Wednesday evening.
“He’s doing pretty well,” said Boone on WFAN. “He is actually flying out today, he’s headed to Tampa … he’s going to go down to Tampa and start getting at-bats all weekend down there … he hit off of (Dellin) Betances the other day, he has been ramping up … when he exactly gets back, I’m not sure, but I do feel like he is getting close to being an option for us.”
Stanton is a tremendous talent whose absence would be felt by any team, but the Yankees have done pretty well without him in the lineup. Guys like Mike Tauchman and Edwin Encarnacion have performed admirably in the 29-year-old slugger’s stead.
USA TODAY Images The playoffs will be here sooner rather than later, as there’s now under a month of action left in the regular season. Despite that, Boone added that it wouldn’t be fair to set a deadline for when Stanton needs to be back by to resume full involvement by the postseason.
“I think it’s unfair, because it depends how many reps he has gotten, what he looks like when he gets back. Is he 100% and rolling? Does he come out of the gate feeling good and looking good? He’s definitely been building some momentum here of late, and you know we’re starting to feel a little more optimistic that he’s going to be able to join us pretty soon.”