The Yankees’ 2019 season is off to a pretty poor start. Not only did they begin the year with numerous key players on the injured list, but they dropped the opening series to the Orioles. Today they announced even more bad injury news: Giancarlo Stanton suffered a left biceps strain.
He has been placed on the 10-day injured list, and Clint Frazier will join the team. It really didn’t take long for the outfield logjam to clear up, huh? We’re one injury away from a Shane Robinson moment and the season is four days old. The outfield now consists of Brett Gardner, Aaron Judge, Mike Tauchman, and Frazier.
It’s unclear when exactly Stanton suffered this injury, but it’s obviously a huge blow to the lineup. Frazier had an awful spring, slashing .143/.228/.245 with just four extra-base hits across 49 at-bats. It would have been preferable to see him heat up in Triple-A before the Yankees needed him.
Jacoby Ellsbury is still recovering from his 2018 ailments, so he isn’t an option yet. He may end up getting far more playing time than we anticipated though. Please let this be the Yankees getting all of their injuries out of the way early and not a sign of things to come.