Yankees get huge Giancarlo Stanton injury update, but how will his return affect lineup?

When the New York Yankees told us that Giancarlo Stanton's calf injury could only be a day-to-day thing, we knew better than to expect a speedy recovery. We had seen this move before. Therefore, we weren't surprised that things were moving more slowly than expected when he still hadn't been cleared to run last week. Finally, almost exactly one month since his April 28 placement on the IL, we have some positive news.

Yes, Stanton has been cleared to run and has actually been doing it. After the last round of imaging on his sore right calf came back positive, he's begun running outside. That's the good news. The bad news is that Aaron Boone still refuses to provide a concrete timeline for his return.

"I think he wants it fully clear, and I think we got enough news today that allows us to take that step to hopefully the running goes in line with how he's feeling, and we can start to ramp up," Boone said before the Yankees' series finale against the Royals.

Positive, for sure, but still pretty vague. With so much time already missed, Stanton is likely to need to get his timing back on a rehab assignment before he can rejoin the club.

"Having him in the middle, his presence is massive," Boone added. "So you know, hopefully not too much longer."

Yankees expect Giancarlo Stanton to return soon, but lineup implications are complicated

On paper, getting a power bat like Stanton back is a big boost to the lineup. While it's unreasonable to expect him to match his MVP form, though his 158 wRC+ in 77 games last year was equivalent to the 158 mark he put up during his MVP campaign in 2017, his presence lengthens the lineup in theory.

However, reality is a bit more complicated. Since April 28, Paul Goldschmidt has recorded 80 of his 113 plate appearances and has hit .300/.388/.529 with four homers and a 160 wRC+ over that time. A big reason why he's gotten so much run and capitalized has been a result of Stanton vacating the DH role, allowing Ben Rice more time there and opening up first base for the 38-year-old.

Stanton's eventual return complicates that. Boone's reluctance to utilize Rice behind the plate means the trio of Stanton, Goldschmidt, and Rice co-existing in the same lineup is impossible. Rice has yet to log a single rep at catcher, so don't expect a drastic change anytime soon.

Ideally, the Yankees would be able to get all of their best hitters in the lineup on a nightly basis, but the positional inflexibility here prevents that and ensures that black holes like Austin Wells and Ryan McMahon will still get plenty of run.

The silver lining, though, is that age likely prevents Stanton and Goldschmidt from retaining their effectiveness over a heavy diet of playing time. We saw Goldy fade from a .776 OPS over the first half of last season to a .631 mark post-All-Star Break.

As for Stanton, we haven't seen him play more than 114 games in a season since the 139 contests he logged back in 2021. Having two aging hitters who can be lethal in small doses isn't the worst thing in the world, as long as the Boone and the Yankees get the balancing act right.

The latest update on Stanton is a big step forward towards his return to action, but re-integrating him into the lineup won't be as simple as replacing a subpar player with an above-average one. Instead, it will require some tightrope walking to spread the at-bats around and keep everyone fresh. More complicated, for sure, but still a net positive.

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