The last time we saw Giancarlo Stanton on a baseball field, he was putting together a historic postseason, blasting seven home runs in the New York Yankees' 14 playoff games. Four months later, one of several questions surrounding the defending American League champions this spring: When will we see him in the batter's box again?
On Saturday, the Yankees announced Stanton will begin the season on the injured list with elbow injuries. Stanton was already doubtful for Opening Day when he reported to spring training in Tampa having not swung a bat in weeks because of pain in both of his elbows. A week later, the slugger left camp for New York and hasn't returned.
Manager Aaron Boone said Stanton's reason for leaving the team is "personal in nature" and not related to his elbow issues. Before departing Tampa, Stanton did not engage in baseball activities; he was seen going through conditioning drills with trainers while his teammates completed full-squad workouts.
"He has some downtime right now to get things right," Aaron Judge told reporters last week. "I want a healthy G in the middle of the season."
A year ago, Stanton, coming off a humbling 2023 season, reported to spring training with less muscle after altering his workout plan to stay on the field. He rebounded by hitting 27 home runs with a .773 OPS in 114 games. Most importantly, he continued his playoff prowess, fueling the Yankees' offense in October along with Juan Soto.
This year, Stanton is a variable in the Yankees' calculations for offsetting Soto's departure. With Opening Day late this month, he won't be a factor to begin the season. Ultimately, his presence is more important to the Yankees in October than in April. But it's an ominous start.
Here are five more questions from Yankees camp:
Who's on third?
The Yankees upgraded their roster in several ways after Soto chose to sign with the Mets, bolstering strengths and filling glaring holes throughout the roster. Acquiring a third baseman, however, was a priority left unchecked.
With Jazz Chisholm Jr. shifting to second base to replace departed free agent Gleyber Torres, the Yankees' top options at third base are DJ LeMahieu, Oswaldo Cabrera, Oswald Peraza and Jorbit Vivas. Entering camp, a platoon between LeMahieu and Cabrera was the likely solution. But that was before LeMahieu, coming off a nightmare 2024 campaign, tweaked his calf in his Grapefruit League debut Saturday.
LeMahieu, who took two at-bats before leaving the game, will be shut down from baseball activities for an unknown period. Chances are he won't be ready for the start of the season. This past year, the 2020 American League batting champion was one of the least productive players in the majors, recording -1.6 bWAR in just 67 games before finishing the season on the IL. He has two years and $30 million remaining on his six-year, $90 million contract.
If LeMahieu misses time, the platoon likely becomes one between Cabrera and Peraza. Cabrera, a switch-hitter, would start against right-handed pitchers, with Peraza getting starts against lefties.
Cabrera, who turned 26 on Saturday, posted a 1.3 bWAR season in 2024, slashing .247/.296/.365 with eight home runs in 108 games. He played every position but catcher and center field. Peraza, meanwhile, is a former top prospect still looking to find his footing at the highest level a year after a shoulder injury sidelined him for most of spring training. The 24-year-old Venezuelan has a .216/.297/.315 slash line in 74 career games.
But acquiring a third baseman remains a possibility between now and the July trade deadline. This past season, the Yankees traded for Jon Berti the day before Opening Day.
Which leads to Nolan Arenado. The St. Louis Cardinals, in the nascent stages of a rebuild, have made the eight-time All-Star available very publicly for months, but the Yankees have not been aggressive pursuers. Arenado, who turns 34 in April and is coming off his worst major league season, is owed $74 million through 2027, with the Colorado Rockies on the hook to pay $5 million in each of the next two years.
The Cardinals would certainly need to eat some of the money to facilitate a trade. It's likely to happen at some point in 2025 -- they agreed to a deal with the Houston Astros in December, only for Arenado, who has a full no-trade clause, to block the trade. Maybe it'll be with the Yankees, who signed Arenado's good friend and former Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt in December. But the Yankees are rolling with what they have for now.
Who's leading off?
It took the Yankees until the middle of August this past season to find stability in the leadoff spot in front of Soto and Aaron Judge. The player who provided that stability, Torres, isn't on the roster anymore, leaving the role vacant once again.
There are three obvious options: Chisholm, Anthony Volpe and Jasson Dominguez. If handedness is a significant factor -- and Boone has said he prefers to split lefties and righties -- then the left-handed-hitting Chisholm and switch-hitting Dominguez might have an edge on Volpe, after Boone revealed Judge, a right-handed hitter, will move back to second in the batting order this season.
Chisholm boasts great speed, considerable pop and experience in the role, but his .311 career on-base percentage is low for a leadoff man. Dominguez possesses elite power-speed potential, but he's a rookie with just 100 major league plate appearances under his belt.
Volpe was the team's leadoff hitter from early April to the start of July but was moved down after he struggled mightily in the role. Now in his third season, the Yankees are hopeful the shortstop found his stroke in October -- he batted .286 with an .815 OPS in the postseason -- and will carry that success into a breakout 2025 season. If he does, he could be the answer.
"I just want to take care of the strike zone a lot more," said Volpe, a Gold Glove winner in 2023 who slashed .243/.293/.364 in 160 games this past season. "When I do that, I feel like I can impact the ball a lot better and just take my natural, normal swing, which I feel like plays.
"But when I get too big or too outside the strike zone, no one hits those pitches. So I think just going through two full seasons, seeing all the pitchers, how they want to attack me, you build a pretty good database and I think being able to tap back on those things and use the things I've learned and things I'm working on, I'm really excited."
Can Jasson Dominguez handle left field?
There is no questioning Dominguez's talent. One of the most hyped prospects in recent memory, Dominguez's combination of power and speed shined in the minors once he signed with the Yankees out of the Dominican Republic in July of 2019. This offseason, after two brief September stints in the majors the past two seasons, the Yankees deemed Dominguez ready to be their every-day left fielder. But his defense is a concern.
The Yankees called up Dominguez last September to compete with Alex Verdugo for playing time in left. Verdugo was one of the least productive every-day players in baseball in 2024. But Dominguez's shoddy defense prompted the Yankees to stick with Verdugo in the postseason because Verdugo was at least reliable with the glove.
Fast forward to March and Verdugo remains a free agent while Dominguez takes a crash course in learning the position. The top prospect arrived in Tampa early to work on his defense in left after starting 237 minor league games in center field and just 58 in left. Grapefruit League games have provided more teaching moments.
Dominguez lost a ball in the sun in his second exhibition game of the spring. In his fourth, he misjudged a hard-hit ball at the wall. The play was not routine. But every chance Dominguez has will be scrutinized until he proves he isn't a liability. The Yankees believe he has the athleticism and work ethic to make it work, and they're going to give him the opportunity.
"There's no reason he shouldn't be able to handle left field," Boone told reporters. "And we do like what we've seen these first couple of weeks."
What's going to happen with Marcus Stroman?
For a few weeks, Stroman's insistence on remaining a starting pitcher -- and not pitching out of the bullpen -- made for some awkwardness. Stroman is a prideful veteran, a two-time All-Star with a 3.72 career ERA over 10 seasons who has proven doubters wrong with his 5-foot-7 frame. And if he needed any extra motivation, he must log 140 innings this season to activate an $18 million player option for 2026.
The Yankees, though, had five other pitchers projected to populate their starting rotation ahead of him.
Those quandaries tend to sort themselves out over the course of spring training's six weeks, and this one might have over the weekend. Luis Gil, one of those five projected starters, had his bullpen session cut short Friday after feeling tightness in his right shoulder and was sent for an MRI on Saturday. On Monday, Boone announced that Gil suffered a high-grade lat strain and will be shut down for at least six weeks, a deflating development for the talented right-hander that opens a door for Stroman.
A year ago, Gil was on the other end of an injury development when Gerrit Cole, coming off a Cy Young season, was shut down with an elbow injury in mid-March. That paved the way for Gil to break camp on the Opening Day roster, capitalize on the opportunity and win the Rookie of the Year Award.
This time, Stroman would be the next in line to claim an empty rotation spot -- if the Yankees choose to keep him. The Yankees had been looking to trade Stroman -- and his $18.5 million salary -- going back to the offseason.
Now, it looks like he'll remain in pinstripes and get his chance to start -- at least to begin the season.
Who's the backup catcher?
Buried in the Yankees' transaction frenzy in December were two moves that dented the organization's catching depth.
First, on Dec. 11, the Yankees traded catcher Carlos Narvaez, who made his major league debut in July, to the Boston Red Sox for a minor league pitcher and international bonus pool money. Nine days later, they traded catcher Jose Trevino, an All-Star in 2022 who lost his starting job to Austin Wells this past summer, to the Cincinnati Reds for reliever Fernando Cruz and catcher Alex Jackson. Trevino was the sixth catcher the Yankees have traded since the end of the 2023 season. The moves have left New York without a clear backup to Wells.
The group of candidates includes Jackson, a former first-round pick and plus defender -- who was also one of the least productive hitters in the majors this past season. There's Ben Rice, who logged just one inning at catcher in the majors as a rookie this past season. And there's J.C. Escarra, a 29-year-old journeyman still looking to make his MLB debut. Prospect Rafael Flores has turned heads in camp after posting an .875 OPS with 21 home runs between High-A and Double-A this past season, but he'll go back to the minors for more seasoning.
The Yankees are high on Rice's potential. They value his power, plate discipline and makeup. Those attributes and his positional versatility -- Rice, who said he gained 10 pounds of muscle over the offseason, started 41 games at first base in 2024 -- could give him the edge if the Yankees determine he is ready to regularly catch at the highest level. Rice could also see time at designated hitter during Stanton's absence. If it's not Rice, Escarra, a former Uber driver and high school substitute teacher who spent two years playing independent ball before standing out in Double-A and Triple-A this past season, could make his breakthrough.