Yankees News: Giancarlo Stanton and Jon Berti injury updates, Aaron Boone outrage

The New York Yankees just got swept by the Cincinnati Reds and continue to be down bad. It gets worse, too, as the Boston Red Sox are coming to town, and fans know all too well how that rarely turns out positively for New York.

But, again, as long as the Yankees weather the storm and wait for reinforcements, they should be fine. This stretch of play has been incredibly discouraging, but the fact of the matter is that this team is 19 games above .500 and only two games out of first place in the AL East. Life might stink right now, but overall, it could be a lot worse.

Plus, there's good news on the horizon. The Yankees received injury updates on Giancarlo Stanton and Jon Berti before the finale against the Reds, and things are looking up.

Stanton, who hasn't played since June 22, is starting to "ramp up" baseball activities, which feels like a promising development considering how much lengthier his injured list stints tend to be. As for Berti, he'll go on a rehab assignment either during or after the All-Star break.

In theory, the Yankees should have these key pieces back with enough time before the trade deadline. That'll help Brian Cashman truly determine what this team needs when the time comes to swing deals aggressively.

Yankees News: Giancarlo Stanton and Jon Berti injury updates, Aaron Boone outrage

Nobody ever thought missing Stanton and Berti for this long would've been detrimental, but the meat of the Yankees' order has now been greatly compromised without Stanton while the team's third base/utility infield situation is a disaster without Berti. JD Davis isn't the answer, and DJ LeMahieu continues to phase himself out of the team's plans with his inability to hit.

Speaking of those trending downward, manager Aaron Boone is atop the outrage list for Yankees fans. Again, Boone isn't the problem with the Yankees, but time and time again he's proven that he isn't the solution. His lineup decisions, bullpen management, and overall messaging to the players/media continue to be problematic.

But nothing irked fans more than what he did before Thursday's game on the fourth of July. Both Ian Hamilton and Cody Poteet were taking part in a National Anthem standoff with Reds pitcher Graham Ashcraft. The Yankees had the manpower to come out victorious in front of the home crowd.

But Boone decided he had enough and called it off, forcing Hamilton and Poteet back into the dugout. The entire Reds side celebrated after they realized they had won the standoff, and the rest is history. Cincy boat-raced the Yankees, who once again played lazy baseball and failed to execute.

Does this summarize why the Yankees are bad right now? No. But this is Boone's energy. It's laissez-faire with the arbitrary hopes of things "turning around." It's excessive inaction. It's nonsensical postgame explanations about why you wouldn't bunt Anthony Volpe with a runner on first down by a run with Juan Soto and Aaron Judge coming up next. It's defending Trent Grisham for making a lazy play in center field, which adds to the outside chatter of the Yankees not being up to task. It's never being able to stop the bleed when the Yankees hit a rough patch — they are now 5-14 in their last 19 games and haven't won a series in their last six tries. And then when he does decide to take action, it's on something like this, which kills the vibes.

The players are certainly to blame. What Anthony Volpe, Alex Verdugo, DJ LeMahieu, Jose Trevino and a few others on the pitching staff have been doing is absolutely unacceptable. But when that's happening, it's the manager's job to motivate, send a message, and provide a semblance of guiding light when things aren't going right on the field.

Boone doesn't do that. He's a low-energy skipper who is never prepared to answer a question from the media. And he figures out new ways to make the Yankees look like a laughingstock, even if it's something as silly as forcing the team to end a National Anthem standoff on America's birthday.