The Yankees got a few injury updates today, as the media was able to ask Boone some questions about how some guys are healing up. Sadly, some of the updates weren’t positive ones, though hopefully, some pieces of information will continue to pour out and bring some positive vibes to them. Today, Chris Kirschner and Bryan Hoch asked about updates on Giancarlo Stanton, Carlos Rodón, and Harrison Bader.
Carlos Rodon is still a while away from returning:
For starters, Rodón’s back is apparently still not fully ready for him to make the leap back to the roster. As per Hoch, “Carlos Rodón’s back “is barking a little bit,” per Boone. He is being sent for tests”. Rodón has been out the entire season up to this point, but it’s been some inconsistent progress reports on how his injury is healing.
Rodón’s initial forearm injury appears to be healing up nicely, but now it’s the back that is the concern. If he’s unable to go for some time, that’ll be a huge blow to the Yankees’ rotation. It’s been holding it down up to this point, and German’s superb outing put a bit more faith in three of the arms.
As for Schmidt and Brito, seeing what the team decides to do will be interesting. Brito had a rough outing his last time out, though I believe that he’ll be able to bounce back from the first massive setback in his going career. Rodón being healthy is the most important thing, and I’d rather him miss all of April and May, than him not be healed up in the late stretch of the season.
Stanton could be out until June:
The latest on Stanton is that the Yanks are hoping to get him back in roughly the amount of time a grade 2 hamstring strain requires. In today’s pre-game presser, Boone stated, “we’re hoping to get him back in six weeks.” Giancarlo injured his hamstring when he had to pull-up into second base on a massive shot off the wall that forced him to leg out a double.
Big G has had injury issues every year he’s been with the Yankees, but I was hoping this year could be the year he stayed healthy. Now, it’ll likely be sometime in June when he takes the field again. Plus, with G, it’s about him getting back into the groove and finding his consistency. He was off to a solid start to this season, so hopefully this injury doesn’t derail anything.
Before he went on the IL, Stanton had 4 HR, a 133 wRC+, and a very solid .854 OPS. He was hitting the ground running and was smacking long doubles and loud homers. It was the G we had been waiting for, and the Yankees really need him to get right and heal up. If he’s healthy for the second half of the season, that’ll be plenty good for the Yankees to get by.
Darth Bader is making his return to the Yankees:
The final update we got today was that Harrison Bader will face Sevy in a bullpen session on Thursday before starting his rehab assignment on Friday. Getting Bader back will be a massive benefit for this team, as the outfield alignments they’ve run out there haven’t been the best combination. Bader rose to Yankee fandom-fame after his elite postseason stretch, and fans are hoping he can keep that rolling this season.
Bader is one of the best defenders across every position in baseball, and an outfield with he, Judge, and Oswaldo will be remarkably efficient on the defensive side. Oswaldo has struggled a bit finding some offensive consistency, but the super-utility man has filled in remarkably wherever he plays in the field. He’s a very good player, and if he’s able to stay healthy when he returns, it’ll be a big win for the Yanks.
This season is still in the early days, and I believe that Bader could be a huge game-changer for the squad. The bottom third of the lineup has been struggling to get anything rolling, and hopefully, getting Bader back can provide some spark that this lineup desperately needs. Today, the Yanks are rolling out IKF and Hicks in the outfield with Judge, and that simply cannot be the case in meaningful games.