FILE - New York Yankees' Giancarlo Stanton runs the bases during the sixth inning in Game 4 of the ... [+]
At 7:09 am on Sunday the New York Mets shared a photo of Juan Soto striding into spring training on the first day position players were slated to report. He arrived to the facility at Port St. Lucie 108 days after being non-committal about returning to the New York Yankees during a crowded media scrum in the middle of the clubhouse following the disappointment of losing Game 5 of the World Series.
Nearly hours later, position players reported on the other side of Florida an announcement when manager Aaron Boone told reporters in Tampa that Giancarlo Stanton arrived with injuries to both elbows, describing the ailment as “tennis elbow”. Tennis elbow is described by places like the Mayo clinic as being caused by overuse of the muscles and tendon and connected to overuse.
Stanton is questionable for the season opener on March 27, a date so early that the second weekend of the NCAA tournament is starting a few hours after Gerrit Cole throws his first pitch.
Learning about injuries to both elbows is never a good thing, especially given how much they are used to swing a bat, something Stanton has done exclusively for 123 straight regular-season games and for all 14 postseason games. It is good that is happening on the first day of camp and perhaps a good thing that Stanton was able to play well through the ailment.
“It’s (something) that he maintained and kind of played through, especially the second half of the year,” Boone told reporters. “So we want to make sure that we give it as much time (as possible), so we’ll probably slow-play him a little bit…it’s just something we don’t want to rush, if we can get to a really good spot, and know we’re going to have to probably deal with some maintenance with it throughout the year. Just won’t want to force anything too early.”
The thing with the elbow might explain why Stanton went from hitting .246 in 69 games during the first half and .210 in 45 games after the All-Star break. The at-bats were less afer the break because from June 23 through July 28, Stanton was out with a strained left hamstring.
Still, Stanton was able to be a clutch postseason performer, something he often has achieved since becoming a Yankee in 2018. As impressive as Soto’s clinic on the at-bat that led to his series-clinching homer in the ALCS was, Stanton was just as productive if not more.
In 12 postseason series spanning 41 games, Stanton is a .265 hitter with 18 homers and 40 RBIs along with a .994 OPS. He has batted at least .250 in half of those postseason series and hit multiple homers in a postseason series five times.
“I think a lot of people even forget about how good his regular season was and how productive he was and how important he was to us ultimately scoring the most runs in the league,” Boone told reporters. “Like his presence, he missed the month, 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. Like, he was a threat all the time. He’s huge for us. He’s big and he was big for us during the regular season behind, obviously, what Aaron (Judge) and Juan (Soto) were doing was historic, but his presence in the middle was big.”
The Yankees seemingly acknowledged Stanton gets hurt when GM Brian Cashman admitted as much during the 2023 GM meetings that followed an 82-80 season when Stanton missed two months with a hamstring injury and was limited to 101 games and 415 plate appearances.
And about a year ago Stanton arrived at spring training with a leaner build and acknowledgement about how needed to be more mobile and stay on the field. As he enters his age-35 season and with at least three years left on his contract the Yankees are hoping this does not become a seventh straight season with an injured list stint.
And with the hype around Soto’s arrival in the first year of a 15-year, $765 million deal on a team who fell two wins shy of a Subway Series redux, the Yankees are hoping Stanton does not add to the frustrating total of missing 266 out of 708 games and being interrupted in hitting the 71 homers needed to reach 500.
“Maintenance is just kind of treatment with the modalities that you have available you,” Boone told reporters. “You play through some discomfort with it but just trying to maintain it the best you can and take advantage of those — when he does have an off day.”
