ST. LOUIS — Giancarlo Stanton’s three straight games playing the outfield have been followed by three straight days off.
The Yankees veteran slugger did not play Saturday for a second straight game, following Thursday’s team off-day, to give him more time to bounce back from the physical toll of playing the field on three consecutive days for the first time in over three years.
“Just a little tougher recovering after the last one [Wednesday],” manager Aaron Boone said before Saturday’s 12-8 victory over the Cardinals. “And then being here [with a spacious right field]. So we’ll see. We’ll see if [Sunday’s] an option or not.”
Giancarlo Stanton picks up a ball during the Yankees’ Aug. 9 game against the Astros.AP
Boone indicated the issue was with Stanton’s lower body, where he has had multiple soft-tissue injuries over the years, rather than his elbows as he plays through the equivalent of tennis elbow in both arms.
The Yankees started playing Stanton in the field again last Saturday as a way to get his bat into the lineup with Aaron Judge currently limited to DH duties as he recovers from a right elbow flexor strain.
Judge has thrown as far as 150 feet in his throwing progression, but there are no indications that his return to right field is imminent.
So until then, the Yankees will be faced with the daily question of whether Stanton is feeling healthy enough to play the outfield so they can benefit from his bat or whether he will be limited to pinch hitting.
“I don’t want to scrap him [in the outfield altogether],” Boone said. “But trying to be mindful and careful and smart about it too. And to his credit, he and I talk closely about it and even going into it, ‘If we have any issues, let’s get out in front of things as best we can.’ We’ll just see. I’m kind of taking it day by day.”
Boone said Stanton was getting ready to pinch hit in the late innings Friday night, which went “even better than he expected,” though he did not ultimately enter the game.
Giancarlo Stanton warms up before the Yankees’ Aug. 8 game.Charles Wenzelberg
“I don’t think it’s anything big,” Boone said, mostly chalking it up to the initial soreness of doing something you have not done in a while. “It’s like spring training. It’s why we play them four and five innings to start and days off. You’re building that bandwidth, so to speak. Like a marathon runner, you don’t sit on the couch for three weeks and rest up and then go run the marathon. You’ve got to train for it. So it’s partly that.”
José Caballero started in right field for the second straight game.
Paul Goldschmidt (right knee sprain) also remained out of the lineup, though even if he were fully healthy, he may have still been on the bench against Cardinals right-hander Sonny Gray.
The veteran first baseman entered Friday’s game in the eighth inning as a defensive replacement, which Boone was “maybe even a little reluctant to do.”
“It seemed like he responded well to it and said, ‘I even feel like I feel a little better today,’ ” Boone said. “I think we’re in a pretty good spot with Goldy. I don’t know how great the running will be initially. But I would expect him in there soon.”
Cody Bellinger did not play Saturday with an illness, though Boone said he was available off the bench.
He was feeling sick during Friday’s game but woke up worse on Saturday.
