Yahoo Finance Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton would be 'ready to go' if baseball started this week
The good news for New York Yankees fans: Injured slugger Giancarlo Stanton would be ready to go if Thursday were opening day. Bad news: Thursday will not being opening day.
Still, Stanton — who has been oft-injured, both during his career and during his Bronx tenure — is about ready to play, according to Yankees manager Aaron Boone.
Bryan Hoch of MLB.com has the news, via a YES Network interview with Boone:
Giancarlo Stanton update from Aaron Boone, via @M_Marakovits and @YESNetwork: "If we were to start Spring Training games up tomorrow, he’d probably be ready to go."
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) March 23, 2020
This is a silver living for a Yankees team that was devasted by injuries early in spring training. It lost Luis Severino to Tommy John surgery and Aaron Judge to a fractured rib (that turned into a partially collapsed lung), James Paxton needed surgery to remove a cyst from his spine. Stanton had a calf injury, and neither he nor Judge were expected to be ready for opening day.
MLB getting shut down by the coronavirus has at least helped the World Series-favorite Yankees get healthy. Judge has recovered from his collapsed lung and his broken rib is getting better. Severino is out no matter what, but the delayed season will allow Paxton to not miss as much time — or perhaps even none at all.
Stanton played only 18 games last year for the Yankees, hitting just three homers. The injuries piled up. He did a full season in 2018, his first in New York. It was only the fourth time in his career he played a full season. However, Stanton went through ups and downs at the plate, finishing with 38 homers and an .852 OPS.
Whenever baseball returns, Yankees fans will be hoping to get lots of dingers out of a healthy Stanton. Monday’s news is a step in that direction.
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