Giancarlo Stanton’s Elbows Are Still Wrecked—And the Yankees Just Bought More Time

Giancarlo Stanton’s 2025 season has hit another detour—one that’s not just frustrating, but all too familiar.

The New York Yankees officially transferred the 34-year-old slugger to the 60-day injured list this week, confirming what’s been simmering behind the scenes since spring: Stanton’s ongoing battle with tendinitis in both elbows is worse than initially believed. The earliest he can return is May 24, and even that feels optimistic given the sluggish pace of his recovery so far.

This isn’t a new issue. The elbow problems began last year but weren’t properly addressed until February, when Stanton admitted to the team that he hadn’t swung a bat for nearly a month during the offseason. That revelation came far too late for the Yankees to adjust their plans—or push for surgery, which might have taken three months off the calendar but had the potential to fix the problem outright.

Instead, Stanton received platelet-rich plasma injections—two rounds in each elbow—hoping to jump-start the healing. It didn’t take. He opened the season on the shelf, has yet to begin a rehab assignment, and remains limited to soft workouts: some swings off a high-velocity machine, some light running, and a whole lot of limbo.

Stanton’s Timeline Stalls as Yankees Look Elsewhere

While fans wait (again) for Stanton to return, the Yankees are making roster moves to patch together a solution. On Thursday, New York claimed outfielder Bryan De La Cruz off waivers from the Braves and stashed him in Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The corresponding move? Making Stanton’s IL stay official by moving him to the 60-day.

De La Cruz is hardly a game-changer, but he’s hit 40 homers over the past two seasons and has solid enough numbers against lefties to potentially complement rookie Jasson Domínguez, who’s been excellent from the left side but completely lost from the right.

Teams have been stacking left-handed relievers against the Yankees all season, exploiting the imbalance in a lineup heavy on lefty bats. According to Brendan Kuty of The Athletic, “Their 228 plate appearances against lefty relievers are the most in the majors, well ahead of the second-place Chicago Cubs at 191.”

De La Cruz might be depth for now, but with second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. undergoing an MRI for a sore oblique and Domínguez’s splits raising eyebrows, he could get a shot sooner than expected.

For now, though, the bigger question looms: Can Stanton still be part of the Yankees’ future, or is this just the latest chapter in a slow fade toward irrelevance?

Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.

This article was originally published on Heavy Sports

The post Giancarlo Stanton’s Elbows Are Still Wrecked—And the Yankees Just Bought More Time appeared first on Heavy Sports.