If there is one positive that the New York Yankees can take out of Major League Baseball’s postponement due to the coronavirus outbreak — and it is trivial in the grand scheme of things — it’s that they’ve been given extra time for their star players to get healthy.
Slugger Giancarlo Stanton, who is dealing with a calf strain, would likely have been ready to participate in spring-training games this week, Yankees manager Aaron Boone told YES Network on Monday.
While the date of Opening Day is yet to be known, that’s a clear indication that Stanton will be ready to go once the 2020 season can start.
Stanton played in just 18 games last season after dealing with a litany of injuries that featured biceps, calf, and knee issues.
It wiped out his second season with the Yankees after he was acquired from the Miami Marlins in 2018 when he was fresh off an NL MVP-winning campaign in which he slugged 59 home runs with 132 RBI.
He regressed with the Yankees, despite moving into a more hitter-friendly park, but still managed to put up an impressive line of 38 round-trippers with 100 RBI. A poor showing in the playoffs and his health problems have done little to endear himself to the Yankees faithful, however.
As for Stanton’s fellow bash brother in the middle of the Yankees’ order, Aaron Judge, MLB’s frozen schedule will afford his fractured rib more time to heal up.
Judge was originally shut down before spring training games began because of a shoulder injury.
It wasn’t until the beginning of March that the fractured rib cropped up — a disturbing discovery considering he initially injured the area last September.
Seeing as the injury did not properly heal during the five months between September and February, it was forecasted that Judge would miss a considerable amount of time to start the season so the bone could completely and properly heal.
But with the MLB season not starting until possibly June, Judge’s absence suddenly becomes far less severe.
