TAMPA – Giancarlo Stanton's October heroic became an even more impressive Sunday when Aaron Boone revealed he was injured at the time.
The only problem is that a few months later, the Yankees slugger still deals with this issue and starts spring training from behind.
Stanton is equivalent to tennis elbows on both elbows, and Boone could risk his ability to start the season on time in the position on the day when the player reported to camp to take the body to camp. He said it was sexual.
“We want to make sure we give it a lot of time [as it needs]So we'll probably play him a little bit slower,” Boone said Sunday at Steinbrenner Field. “I think he's fine. That's a problem when we really want to start rolling out it to get him as many opportunities as possible.”
Asked if an injury could affect Stanton's availability at the start of the season, Boone said, “It's hard to say.”
“I'm not going to put a timeline on it,” Boone said. “We're going to get smarter with that and hear it.”
Boone even said when Stanton addressed last season's final issues and put together the Monster Postseason with veteran DH hitting .273 with seven home runs in 14 games and 1.048 OPS.
The 35-year-old then strengthened his activity in the offseason before closing it and receiving treatment for his elbow.
“That's something we don't want to hurry,” Boone said. “If we can get to a really good place, and perhaps we'll have to deal with some maintenance about it all year round, but we don't want to force something too early.
“This would probably crush if we were full bore. We just want to give them the right amount of time and make sure we give ourselves the best position throughout the year.”
Trent Grisham is starting camp a little late after pulling his hamstrings during training a few weeks ago, Boone said.
The outfielder was running at full speed on Sunday, but the Yankees don't push him at this point.
