Yankees: Aaron Boone says Giancarlo Stanton will remain on the ALCS roster

For the third straight game since straining his quad on Saturday, Giancarlo Stanton wasn’t in the Yankees starting lineup for Game 4 of the ALCS. According to manager Aaron Boone Stanton still isn’t healthy enough to play in left field and if that’s the case it might be time to replace him on the 25-man roster.

Stanton has apparently been available to pinch-hit over the last three games, but clearly, his quad isn’t going to allow him to play in the outfield during this series. Boone pretty much confirmed that before Game 4 when he told the media that Stanton wasn’t an outfield option, but he could be ready to be the DH in Game 5 on Friday. From the Yankees standpoint that’s good enough of a reason to justify keeping him on the roster, but that’s certainly debatable.

If this was the regular season there’s no doubt Stanton would have been placed on the IL but now if the Yankees replaced him on the roster he’d be out for the World Series as well. If he’s healthy enough to pinch-hit he’s a guy who should definitely be on the WS roster but the Yankees still have to make it there and put all their focus into taking care of business against the Astros.

I understand keeping Stanton on the roster in case they did make it to the Fall Classic, but with that being said I don’t see him making much of an impact for the remainder of this ALCS. Boone said Stanton is running at around 60% right now which isn’t very promising. The quad might not affect his swing in the batter’s box but it’s obviously going to affect him on the base paths. He already suffered the injury beating out an infield single and if he has to try and do that again the odds of him hurting himself even more are high.

You also have to wonder who he’d be replacing in the lineup if the Yankees opted to start him at DH on Friday. Edwin Encarnacion has struggled this series (1-12 6 K’s) but he did double off of Gerrit Cole in Game 3 and if he has a big night in Game 4 he needs to stay in the lineup. The Yankees don’t seem like they want to move Edwin to first base and DJ Lemahieu to third because their best infield defense features DJ at first and Gio Urshela at third. Gio has also struggled a bit this series but not nearly as much as some of the other guys in the lineup and his defense at the hot corner has been outstanding all season.

Now if Edwin goes 0-4 tonight with a couple of K’s I’d be all in favor of benching him at DH for Stanton, but then there’s still concern that he might re-aggravate the injury on the basepaths. If that happens the Yankees would be down to only two position players on the bench with one of them being backup catcher Austin Romine.

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That’s why I think the Yankees really need to consider replacing him on the roster. I know he’s doing everything in his power to be able to play at some point in the series, but time is running out an right now he’s basically just wasting a roster spot. If all he can do is hit I think he Yanks are better off inserting someone like Mike Tacuhman on the roster who is reportedly ready to play according to GM Brian Cashman.

Tauchman not only gives the Yanks another power lefty bat but he also has great speed and is an outstanding defensive outfielder. He’s the not hitter Stanton is but he’s a much more versatile player who can impact the game in multiple ways.

Right now because of the injury you can’t say the same about Stanton and with the season basically on the line tonight I just don’t think the Yankees can afford to keep him on the roster.