Stanton frustrated, but knows he can’t ‘stop and feel sorry for myself’
VENICE, Fla. — Giancarlo Stanton has no words left. The Yankees slugger is frustrated and feels snakebit by injuries when talking about his latest — a right calf strain.
“I mean it makes it seem like I didn’t take care of myself, you know? Which makes it more frustrating,” Stanton said
Friday morning. “I don’t have much more for you guys.”
Stanton said that he felt something in his calf after he made a change of direction during outfield drills on Tuesday.
“So I went to go check it out,” Stanton said.
It was revealed to be a grade 1 strain, which has him shut down and in jeopardy of beginning the 2020 season on the injured list.
“That all depends on this week, next week,” Stanton said of starting this season on the injured list. He is scheduled to test the calf with some slow, deliberate movements in “the next few days,” and then try to ramp up again.
It’s just the latest setback for Stanton who played just 18 regular season games because of injuries in 2019.
“There’s no words for it. Really,” Stanton said of his frustration. “Just get back to where I need to be.”
In 2019, Stanton was one of a record 30 Yankees placed on the IL, which led to a major overhaul of the training and conditioning staff over the winter.
Thursday on WFAN, however, Brian Cashman said that since the new staff was just getting to know and evaluate the players, this isn’t a reflection on Eric Cressey.
This is also a new injury for Stanton. Last season he was out with a left biceps strain, had
treatment for a left shoulder issue, suffered a left calf issue in his rehab from those injuries. He returned to play six games before he jammed his knee running bases and missed 73 games before returning in September. In the playoffs, he suffered a right quad strain.
The 30-year old outfielder admits he feels unlucky, but shrugged it off.
“Yeah, but I can’t stop and feel sorry for myself,” Stanton said.
GERMAN IN WRECK BUT OK
Domingo German is not hurt after being involved in a car crash back in his native Dominican Republic Thursday which injured two people. The Yankees confirmed that German was in the back seat when the accident occurred.
“German’s fine. It was yesterday. He was in the car, in the backseat … on the driver side in the backseat,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He’s been to the (Yankees’) complex in the DR, he’s been checked over. He’s fine”
There were conflicting reports out of the Dominican that had German’s representatives claiming he was not in the car but arrived at the scene shortly after.
The 27-year-old is serving out an 80-game suspension under MLB/MLBPA’s domestic violence policy. German was suspended last September and has 63 games remaining on the suspension that carries into this season. He will not be eligible to rejoin the team until June and while the Yankees could have him here for spring training, they chose to have him work on his own in the Dominican Republic.
DAILY JUDGE
The Yankees now “hope” that Aaron Judge will be able to ramp up normally and the shoulder issue that has kept him out of the first seven Grapefruit League games will not affect his start to the regular season. Though Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Friday morning that the slugger had not suffered any setbacks, his comments were less sure than earlier in the week.
Judge has not hit on the field yet and Boone said he wasn’t sure he would before the end of the week.
“That’s the hope,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. ”I just want to see how he did coming in today and everything.”
Judge hit in the batting cage for the first time on Thursday with a coach throwing. It was a progression from hitting soft toss, which he had been doing for about a week. He was shut down before camp opened with right shoulder soreness.
WHERE FOR ANDUJAR?
Miguel Andujar made his second pro start in left field on Friday. The former third baseman is getting regular reps there (before getting a chance to play first base in a game) with the Yankees suffering injuries there this spring.
“I don’t know, other than I value him getting out there and getting serious, and we like what we’ve seen out there,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said when asked if anything can be read into the assignment. “Right now with Aaron (Judge) being out, with Giancarlo (Stanton) going out there’s more reps to be had out there. He can factor in probably more so out there right now so I want to see that.”
Andujar is a bat looking for a position.
After he missed most of 2019 with a torn labrum, GM Brian Cashman and Boone both made it clear that Gio Urshela came into camp as their starting third baseman. The 28-year-old, after being an unproductive hitter for most of his three previous trips to the big leagues, slashed .314/ .355/.534 with 21 home runs. Urshela was a .225 career hitter with eight home runs over 167 major league games before last season.