Yankees Injury Update: Conflicting Giancarlo Stanton news, Max Fried nearing return

The New York Yankees have suffered through a tumultuous month or so as injuries to some of their stars have begun to catch up to the club. At least one of those big names for the Yanks looks ready to step back into the fold within the next week. That's the good news. There's other news, too, and it's not as cheerful.

Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton strained his calf 88 days ago, and he hasn't appeared on an MLB diamond since. All of the updates on Stanton have been disappointing during his period away from action. In early July, we heard from Yankees skipper Aaron Boone (via The Athletic's Chris Kirschner) that Stanton still hadn't resumed running, but was doing some treadmill work. So ... walking? Boone also said that he expected Stanton back this season, but didn't know when.

There is still no timeline for a Giancarlo Stanton Yankees return ... or is there?

Kirschner gave another update on Friday, reporting that there is still "no timetable" for Stanton's return, although the slugger had begun a running progression. On Monday, MLB.com's Bryan Hoch followed up that report by writing that Stanton "isn't close to returning," not even to Minor League rehab games, even though he has indeed resumed the aforementioned running progression. Sigh.

Who knew that a calf strain could sideline a professional athlete for more than three months? Then again, this is the oft-injured Stanton we are dealing with. It would be nice to know if we can expect Stanton back at all in 2026, but this situation is causing plenty of fans to give up hope.

But wait! On Tuesday morning (July 21), Talkin' Yanks revealed fresh intel from Boone that Stanton should be back in a "reasonable amount of time". What is "reasonable" here? Two weeks? A month? We're not sure, but this info from Boone at least makes it sound like Stanton will be back in 2026, surely before the postseason. Okay, maybe not surely, but it seems that way.

While there's plenty of mystery and vagaries swirling around Stanton and his calf, at least things appear sunnier on the Max Fried side of the street.

Max Fried is expected to re-join Yankees' rotation next week in Chicago

Fried, who's been on the IL since mid-May with a left elbow bone bruise, will throw a 60-pitch rehab start tomorrow (Wednesday, July 22), according to Boone (via Talkin' Yanks), who also revealed that the Yankees expect Fried to re-join New York's rotation next week during its series against the Chicago White Sox.

At present, it looks like Gerrit Cole would be the starter for the first game of that White Sox series on Monday, July 27, with Cam Schlittler lined up for the third game on July 29. Could Fried slot into that second game on July 28? It remains to be seen if it'll shake out this way, especially after Tuesday's postponement, but Boone's latest update makes it seem very possible.

Fried re-joining the rotation will do wonders for a struggling offense that isn't supposed to get Aaron Judge back for the foreseeable future.

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