Yankees' annual Giancarlo Stanton injury issue vs Astros clears Jasson Dominguez path

You can do everything right with Giancarlo Stanton. You can manage his legs. You can stagger his off days. You can remove all bags of chips from the locker room. But you can't prevent the inevitable.

The New York Yankees have gotten plenty of massive moments from Stanton over the years, but what they haven't gotten is a season consisting of over 115 regular season games. Not since 2021. Availability isn't Stanton's best attribute - at least, not since the Yankees' trade with Miami, when his injuries seemingly transitioned from "freakish" to "chronic" overnight.

You'd still hitch your wagon to Stanton. You'd still bet anything on him coming through in a massive spot in October. But he just cannot last a full season, at this point in his career. And Friday night's action in Houston is exactly why you retain Jasson Domínguez unless you happen to be overwhelmed by a trade offer.

The Yankees weren't. And so they demoted Domínguez to Triple-A while letting the veterans run the big-league outfield, hoping that he might gain comfort in left (or, perhaps more importantly, keep his bat engaged and in high gear for when New York inevitably needed him).

Stanton mashes lefties. Domínguez does the opposite. And Friday night probably represented the inevitable inflection point in the Yankees' season, when Stanton requires some time off his feet and Domínguez earns some elevated reps.

The 36-year-old Stanton departed Friday's overheated game in Stantonian fashion: destroying a 108 MPH RBI single, then jogging to third and being removed after a long single off the wall by JC Escarra. Whether Stanton needs some time on the shelf or not, the Yankees have an offensively peaking version of Domínguez they can certainly deploy to give him a blow.

Jasson Domínguez's Yankees future as Giancarlo Stanton's successor feels inevitable

Domínguez just so happened to dribble another ball around in left field on Friday night, an ironic capper on his recent offensive surge. Stanton's contract is up at the end of the 2027 season. He's been a powerhouse Yankee, specifically against Boston and in October. He's also got a limited portfolio, at this juncture.

Domínguez? Forget the glove. If he can hit both varieties of pitcher, he can be an everyday DH in this league. Thus far, he's carrying a .306 average with an .875 OPS, and he's hit .308 in 13 limited at-bats against lefty pitching this year, too. Whether the Yankees are being earnest about developing him as a switch hitter is anyone's guess. Regardless of their grand plans, he has the most MLB-ready bat in the system, and might be returning to the scene of his MLB debut in Houston this weekend to help caddy the lineup (which just so happened to finally break out on Friday night).

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