Projecting Yankees' Opening Day lineup after Giancarlo Stanton, DJ LeMahieu injuries

Though the New York Yankees have endured worse injury situations at spring training, this year hasn't exactly been kind, either. Before anything even got started, Giancarlo Stanton was all but officially ruled out for Opening Day (the Yankees etched that in stone over the weekend).

All in all, it's a bummer, but it at least gives the Yankees flexibility in the DH spot if they want to work in guys who need at-bats in the early going. There are plenty of at-bats to go around with all of Ben Rice, Oswaldo Cabrera, Oswald Peraza, Trent Grisham and Everson Pereira competing for reps.

But there's more. Shortly after the news of Stanton hitting the IL was reported, DJ LeMahieu went down with a calf injury that will completely upend his spring training buildup and keep him out of the Opening Day picture.

Many believed the Yankees were simply going to give the job to LeMahieu regardless of how the "competition" shook out between him, Cabrera and Peraza, but now it'll be between those two as Aaron Boone looks to fill out the lineup card for March 27 against the Brewers.

Projecting Yankees' Opening Day lineup after Stanton, LeMahieu injuries

1. Jazz Chisholm 2B
2. Aaron Judge RF
3. Cody Bellinger CF
4. Austin Wells C
5. Paul Goldschmidt 1B
6. Ben Rice DH
7. Jasson Dominguez LF
8. Anthony Volpe SS
9. Oswaldo Cabrera 3B

Now, the Opening Day lineup will hardly be what's "to stay" throughout the year, so don't expect Chisholm to remain the leadoff hitter or Wells to remain the cleanup hitter. These will just be placeholders until Stanton returns and the bigger picture shakes out. The only "definites" feel like Judge-Belli hitting 2-3 and the bottom of the lineup consisting of Volpe and Cabrera.

As for the third base battle, Cabrera should at least win out for the start of the season due to his experience and familiarity. Nobody's going to rule out Peraza getting reps, but it probably won't happen right out of the gate.

With how good Wells has looked early on, coupled with his experience in the cleanup spot last year, we can see Boone giving the youngster a vote of confidence to kick the year off. But that middle of the lineup with Wells, Goldy and Rice should be free-flowing during the first couple months.

And then there's Dominguez. He's had a rough start to spring and will need to prove himself if he's going to hit higher in the order. Boone mentioned he's a candidate for the leadoff spot, but he certainly isn't right now after starting spring 2-for-16.

On paper, it's not a great lineup. And that's not being pessimistic. It's simply the reality. But the Yankees will hope for some bounce-back campaigns from veterans and leaps forward for their younger guys. Whatever the configuration, it shouldn't be much different than this when Opening Day arrives.