TAMPA — With Yankees position players reporting to camp on Sunday, Aaron Boone shared a few new injury updates.
The most notable pertained to Giancarlo Stanton, who is “a little behind” due to some issues with both of his elbows that date back to late last season and the playoffs. Stanton, who enjoyed a torrent postseason, played through the soreness last year. Boone called the problem “akin to tennis elbow.”
“We’ll slow-play him a little bit,” Boone said. “It’s just something we don’t want to rush. We can get to a really good spot, and we know we’re gonna have to probably deal with some maintenance with it throughout the year, but we just don’t want to force anything too early.
“This is something that, if we’re full-bore in, we’d be grinding away probably. But we just want to make sure we give it the proper time.”
Stanton shut down recently and has been getting treatment, but Boone said the designated hitter has not received any injections or undergone any procedures.
At this point, it’s too soon to know if Stanton’s elbows will jeopardize his availability for Opening Day.
“I don’t know,” Boone said. “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.”
The manager later added, “I’m expecting him to be okay. It’s just a matter of when we want to start really rolling it out.”
Keeping in mind that Stanton’s elbows will likely require maintenance throughout the season, Boone said, “I hope not” when asked if the slugger’s performance will be affected.
It wasn’t last October, as Stanton posted a 1.048 OPS in the playoffs while totaling seven home runs and 16 RBI. His heroics earned him ALCS MVP honors and followed a bounce-back season that saw him slash .233/.298/.475 with 27 homers and 72 RBI.
With Juan Soto no longer under their employment, Stanton’s health and continued production are of the utmost importance to a lineup that is also banking on a few other former MVPs. While Aaron Judge remains one of baseball’s top offensive threats, newcomers Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt offer less certainty.
Boone also noted that the Yankees are a little more left-handed than they were last season, so losing Stanton’s powerful right-handed swing for an extended time would hurt the lineup’s balance.
Stanton has a long injury history, though it’s his lower body that has typically sidelined him. He missed a little over a month with a hamstring strain last year. He has also suffered hamstring, Achilles, calf and quad and knee injuries since joining the Yankees before the 2018 season, which prompted him to revamp his offseason routine and body two offseasons ago.
Stanton, who did not speak to reporters on Sunday, appeared trim once again when he stopped by his locker.
“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 said. “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 [now] that [we’re] a little more left-handed.”
Grisham’s Also Behind
Stanton isn’t the only Yankee playing catchup, as backup outfielder Trent Grisham pulled a hamstring a few weeks ago during offseason training.
However, Boone said that Grisham has resumed baseball activities. He ran close to “full bore” on Sunday.
“He shouldn’t be too far behind,” Boone said, “but definitely won’t push it too much.”
Acquired alongside Soto in a trade with the Padres, Grisham is entering his second season with the Yankees. The talented defender rarely played last season, hitting .190 with nine homers and 31 RBI over 76 games and 179 at-bats.
Cousins Won’t Rush
Jake Cousins, who reported to camp with a forearm strain last week, is not ready to say he’ll miss Opening Day, but the right-handed reliever doesn’t want to rush anything, either.
“We’re gonna do everything we can to get back as soon as possible, but we’re gonna make sure that I’m healthy,” he said Sunday. “We don’t want this to be something that I deal with all season.”
Cousins, who enjoyed a breakout season with the Yankees last year, suffered the strain over the offseason. He threw and received treatment throughout the winter and visited Tampa as he built up. He felt soreness after four or five sessions on the mound and told team trainers he felt “beat up.”
Cousins is now three weeks into being shut down and taking things day by day.
Cousins, who also had a shoulder strain while in Washington’s system a few years ago, added that his ulnar collateral ligament “looked great.”
Add A Coach To The List
Boone made sure to volunteer one more injury update before his Sunday press conference ended: Brad Ausmus pulled his hamstring playing pickup basketball on Saturday.
Boone said the bench coach hurt himself “pretty bad.” Ausmus could be seen walking gingerly through the Yankees’ clubhouse minutes later. An ex-catcher, he joked that he’s been better.
“Obviously, I advised him not to do that, but he wanted to take this 55-year-old back out there,” said Boone, whose Yankees playing career famously ended with a torn ACL suffered in a pickup basketball game. “So we’re dealing with that.”
Asked if he was on the other team, Boone replied, “Absolutely not. I stay in my lane.”
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