April 28th: The Yanks officially put Stanton on the IL today, with infielder Max Schuemann recalled as the corresponding move. It appears the Yanks will play one more game with 14 position players and 12 pitchers. They plan to recall Elmer Rodríguez to start Wednesday’s game, so it may just be a one-day stint on the roster for Schuemann.
April 27th: The Yankees are placing Giancarlo Stanton on the 10-day injured list with a “low-grade” strain of his right calf, manager Aaron Boone told reporters (relayed by Erik Boland of Newsday). They can backdate the placement to April 25.
New York recalled Jasson Domínguez to serve as the designated hitter in tonight’s 4-2 win over the Rangers. They played with 14 position players and only 12 pitchers after optioning struggling starter Luis Gil on Sunday. That means they’ll probably recall a reliever tomorrow as the corresponding move for the Stanton IL placement.
Stanton tweaked his calf on Friday while running the bases. The Yankees gave it a few days before making the IL move. Between that and Boone specifying that it’s of a low-grade variety, it doesn’t seem the club anticipates an extended absence. Stanton will need at least another week before he’s able to return to action.
It’s the first injury of the 2026 season for Stanton. He has required at least one IL trip in every year since 2018 and hasn’t reached 500 plate appearances in a season in five years. The Yankees surely anticipated at least one injury absence from the five-time All-Star.
Stanton is out to a league average start at the plate. He’s hitting .256/.302/.422 with a trio of home runs through 96 plate appearances. The power numbers are down in the early going, but Stanton still ranks at the top of the league in bat speed and exit velocity. Even if repeating last season’s .273/.350/.594 slash would be a tough ask, he should remain an impact power threat when he’s able to take the field.
This should open the DH spot for Domínguez, at least against right-handed pitching. He got the nod tonight against Jack Leiter and went 1-4 in his season debut. The Yankees face two more right-handers, Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi, to close that three-game series. The switch-hitting Domínguez has been much better from the left side in his career and would be the sensible choice to start those games.
The complicating factor is that the Yankees are expected to welcome Anthony Volpe back from the injured list this week. That’ll push José Caballero to a utility role and someone off the big league bench — presuming they don’t want to stick with a 12-man pitching staff. Ben Rice hasn’t caught all season and is destroying the ball as the primary first baseman. They may not want to mess with that arrangement by optioning J.C. Escarra and making Rice the backup catcher.
They could option Domínguez back to Triple-A, but he’s probably not benefiting much from destroying mediocre minor league pitching. He was squeezed off the season-opening roster simply because the Yankees couldn’t find a path to getting him everyday playing time, which is now open at DH as long as Stanton is on the shelf.
That could instead point to them designating a veteran role player for assignment once Volpe returns. Randal Grichuk broke camp in a short side platoon outfield role and is hitting .194 without a home run over 33 plate appearances. Paul Goldschmidt has had a slow start as well but figures to have a longer leash in his second season in the Bronx on a $4MM contract.
Yanks need to get Ben Rice a catchers mitt so Goldy can get everyday at-bats.
Rice has such – and getting Goldy everyday AB’s should not be the reason.
Better for Rice to catch against some lefty starters which better suits Goldy and doesn’t suit Wells and Escarra so much
When you are a Hall a Famer, you don’t take well to time on the bench.
He may be 39, but he can hit as good or better than half the team, against righties and lefties.
He needs run everyday to get it going this summer.
Goldy was .356/.403/.475 in Mar/Apr last season, .315/.382/.525 in May – he had a horrible June but it had to be some sort of physical injury.
I feel like he was playing through some sort of pain the entire second half last season, and he finished strong.
Raked all spring, is fully healthy, hasn’t had a consistent opportunity to get it going.
If he is healthy and strong, Yankees need him in the lineup everyday. He isnt a platoon, he just crushes lefties at a far greater clip than he crushes righties.
He should be catcher more to get escargo out of the lineup and keep developing him as at least a 40-50 game a year catcher
W his bat, that is huge value
“Look at the S car go!” Polite laughter from Billy Ray Valentine
Rice is not regarded as a good defensive catcher. He’s more of an emergency third catcher.
As for Dominguez, the reason for him to eventually return to AAA is to continue to work on his swing from the right side and his fielding, which remains substandard. Neither will happen as a platoon DH in the majors.
That’s tough, Goldy needs starts everyday at 1B. Rice has to be getting more starts at catcher with a lot of defensive substitutions in games when they have the lead late.
Wells / Escarra sub out Rice at C, Rice to 1st sub out Goldy depending on whose available in the opponents bullpen and where they are at in the batting order.
I think that is the best way to approach it this summer.
If they are down late, keep the bats in. Its a nice problem to have. Rice should be getting a lot of starts at C despite his bad defense.
Rice is and should be at 1B….not Goldsmith who is only on the team given he’s a right handed hitter, who can play a diminished GG at the position but has pretty much lost his HR power and only presents gap power vs the middle to bottom pitching matchups he’s against.
Secondly Rice is not a “bad defensive” player at 1B and while he’s not in the top tier at C he at least can post an average grade at the position.
I do agree that Wells should be sitting and probably playing behind Escarra at C for now……or until Wells bat does heat up….playing players out of position does nothing for the team offensively or defensively.
With Volpe coming back and with Stanton on the IL, there will be some positional switching happening for the foreseeable future.
Also since catching is so grueling mentally and physically his offense will regress if he catches. I don’t want that.
Well we all knew this was coming eventually
Our office pool honestly had him hitting the IL 1st week of May
Another player we traded to the Yankees that helped them win a WS…. Smh
The Yankees won a World Series when?
27 rings total including 2009. Now answer your question about the Braves?
Bragging about 26 rings from the last century isnt the Mike Drop moment, you think it is. 1 WS victory in the past 25 years is not good for a team with that payroll.
The Braves have won the World Series more recently than the Yankees. You guys are hilarious with this 27 rings stuff though.
it’s fine, as long as they average 85+ wins a season I’m happy
fans don’t bring it up here at all, this applecineman is a weak-willed fan who got triggered and misinterpreted the question anyway. We need to weed these guys out of the fan base who still live in the past.
Mengis, I can see the headlines:
Yankee Fans Excited for another .524 Season!
—
I remember when winning Championships were the pride of the Bronx. No one’s jealous of an 85 win team.
I didn’t say others would be jealous of that; I don’t see why anyone would be. Just said I’d be happy with above avg oblivion. Sometimes you don’t need to stand out.
I get it, you like mediocre.
above avg is not mediocre, it just doesn’t stand out
Stanton was traded well AFTER the last time they won a WS. I mean, that’s basic info, Champ.
Joe Dimaggio?
Joe D never played for the Marlins, but I’m not 100% sure on that one and I’m too lazy to check. Or he might have been going by the name of “Mr. Coffee” by then.
@Mengis2
Or Mr. Monroe?
Travis Swift
It’s sarcasm btw
running?
More like treadmilling, and he still got hurt.
@Yankeesforever
Really did LOL
In other news:
tenor.com/view/fork-found-in-kitchen-kitchen-obvio…
Don’t worry. Cashman is taking offers for Dominguez and Luis Gil. I’d expect both to be playing elsewhere by the weekend as Cashman adds another bullpen arm.
Even if Cashman is taking offers, he’s not likely to get anyone acquiring in sell-low deals for either Dominguez or Gil.
Maybe you’re just poking the bear ct but Domínguez still fits the team next year and sooner if he ups his game in the majors some and Grisham doesn’t hit better. And they’ve already pushed him off Super 2 status.
And Gil still serves as starter depth after working on things in AAA or eventually starting a relief conversion if both Cole and Rodon come back fine.
While they could use a steadier righty reliever than Doval or Bird the need isn’t pressing now
I agree if they can teach him how to play CF or they want to roll w Belly in CF pretty much full time as he gets older ( get a plus plus CF defender on the bench for late innings replacement? )
Trade both those guys to the Phillies and get Jose Alvarado in return.
The annual pilgrimage.
“That’s just part of his game” – The Cash Man
Pretty nuts that Stanton has been in the big leagues for 17 seasons!
Not Giancarlo
As god is to my ear
What Took Him So Long?
After this season, what is it… One more year and then a team option, I think. Do the Yankees pick up that option or go with the $10MM buyout?
Hub – One more year at 25M (Yankees 15M and Marlins 10M). In 2028, the same salary breakout…with the Marlins on the hook for the buyout. I think the Yankees easily take the buyout to free up the DH spot.
That’s my thought as well. Stanton will be dangerously close to 40 by then; his health outlook won’t improve much.
Stanton on the IL. Wow! That’s a surprise. He’s spent so much time there over his career he’s eligible for Squatter’s Rights.
If they could just tweak the rules a bit so that Mike could hit while sitting down and then have someone else sprint out of the batters box and run the bases for him… he would be the greatest!
I wonder if there will be another move prior to Volpe’s activation.
I was shocked to hear Stanton had made it this far into the regular season without injuring himself. After his recovery I’m sure he’ll injure himself at least 2 more times before the end of the season.
What a shocker
In the dictionary under ‘fragile’, it says “see him”.
Yankees Place Giancarlo Stanton On Injured List
In other news, water is wet
Actually, water isn’t wet; it’s a liquid that makes things it touches become wet.
Stanton has a hangnail and will go on the IL and in other news, water is wet.
Actually, water isn’t wet; it’s a liquid that makes things it touches become wet.
the stanton bashing is tired
he’s a great teammate and the scariest hitter around when he’s on a tear. it’s not like he and buxton get hurt because they’re not trying hard enough
Grichuk needs to go. Not sure why he made the team over Dominguez (guess they wanted The Martian to get more regular ABs) but with Stanton out and Volpe returning Grichuk is the obvious cut here.