The Yankees identified they had a problem and it went unfixed.
Among the top priorities for Brian Cashman this past offseason was constructing his roster in a way where the availability of one of his sluggers wouldn’t make or break the course of their season.
“But I’m not gonna tell you [Giancarlo Stanton is] gonna play every game next year because he’s not,” Cashman said at the GM meetings in November. “He’s going to wind up getting hurt again more likely than not because it seems to be part of his game.”
The Bombers’ front office openly expected the 34-year-old to land on the injured list at some point, however, their roster has performed as if they were blindsided by the hamstring injury that has kept Stanton sidelined since June 22.
Prior to Stanton’s injury the Bombers’ offense was elite, ranking third in WRC+ (118), second in homers (115), runs (398) and third slugging percentage (.432) and 10th in batting average (.251).
Since they placed the veteran on the shelf, Boone’s offense has taken a sharp dip south. The Yankees rank 14th in runs (98), 25th in batting average (.234), 22nd in slugging percentage (.408) and 13th in WRC+ during their 6-13 stretch that has watched their 52-27 record turn to 58-40 while falling to second place in the AL East.
Granted, Stanton was in the midst of his most effective season in years so the feeling of emptiness after Aaron Judge’s spot in the lineup is warranted as the designated hitter is slashing .246/.302/.492 with 18 homers and 45 RBI in 69 games. However, despite admitting that there is an expectation that time will be missed, the lineup has been in disarray featuring virtually zero protection around their dynamic duo of Judge and Juan Soto. That exposes an alarming lack of depth that has led to their recent slide.
Generally, in recent years, you can usually point to a few crucial injuries that have led the Bombers into disarray, however, Stanton is virtually the only key contributor missing from the lineup which makes their slide all the more head-scratching and concerning moving forward. Anthony Rizzo has been on the shelf with a fractured arm but the first baseman’s performance — .630 OPS in 70 games — has been easily surpassed by rookie Ben Rice, whose .809 OPS in 24 games has provided a jolt in the middle of the lineup.
At the center of the plan this offseason to bandaid the expected Stanton injury was acquiring Alex Verdugo coupled with the potential return of prospect Jasson Dominguez from Tommy John surgery. However, Verdugo is slashing .235/.292/.378 with 10 homers and 45 RBIs entering the second half of the season and has had a largely inconsistent campaign.
After returning from elbow surgery, Dominguez slashed .356/.404/.609 with 6 homers and 13 RBI in 23 games in the minors. Once the 21-year-old’s rehab assignment was up, they opted to keep him in Triple-A as their was no spot for him at the time and the club deemed they wouldn’t rush a young player back from a torn UCL.
The outfielder then strained his oblique — and is not expected to return until late in the summer — around the same time Stanton went down making him unavailable to fill the role. However, relying on a prospect with just eight games of MLB experience — coming off a major surgery— to fulfill such a pivotal role on a team with World Series expectations was likely not the ideal scenario.
Of course, there are plenty of other variables that have led to the Yankees’ mid-summer stumble. Recent underperformance and slides from players such as Anthony Volpe, Gleyber Torres and DJ LeMahieu have played enormous roles as has the sharp decline in performance from their starting rotation — 25th in ERA since June 1.
However, anemic offense has been the culprit of the Yankees’ early exits in the postseason in recent years. And while Stanton is expected to return shortly after the Yankees open up the second half of the season, the July 30 trade deadline offers Cashman a second chance to truly protect his championship-hopeful club against another Stanton injury.