Giancarlo Stantonâs 2025 season has hit another detourâone thatâs 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 whatâs been simmering behind the scenes since spring: Stantonâs 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 isnât a new issue. The elbow problems began last year but werenât properly addressed until February, when Stanton admitted to the team that he hadnât swung a bat for nearly a month during the offseason. That revelation came far too late for the Yankees to adjust their plansâor 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 injectionsâtwo rounds in each elbowâhoping to jump-start the healing. It didnât 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 Stantonâs IL stay official by moving him to the 60-day.
De La Cruz is hardly a game-changer, but heâs hit 40 homers over the past two seasons and has solid enough numbers against lefties to potentially complement rookie Jasson DomÃnguez, whoâs 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, âTheir 228 plate appearances against lefty relievers are the most in the majors, well ahead of the second-place Chicago Cubs at 191.â
De La Cruz might be depth for now, but with second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. undergoing an MRI for a sore oblique and DomÃnguezâs 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 Yankeesâ future, or is this just the latest chapter in a slow fade toward irrelevance?
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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.