Giancarlo Stanton said that missing time with left Achilles tendinitis, which has kept him out of action since July 23, has been “very annoying and frustrating.” This is because the Yankees’ offense has been struggling for most of the team’s recent bad streak.
But he said he’d “be back soon,” probably on Thursday in Oakland. That’s why he’s not worried about how bad the team and lineup have been.
He’ll have a big part to play in that, since the Yankees have missed him.
Even though Stanton has been up and down for most of the season, the Yankees have missed his ability to make pitchers work and the threat he poses even when he’s not hitting. It’s been hard for them to find players to back up Aaron Judge in the middle of the lineup.
Even though the offense as a whole hasn’t been very good, GM Brian Cashman said at a press conference on Monday that he’s not worried about the lineup.
Without naming names, this would include Gleyber Torres, Josh Donaldson, and Andrew Benintendi, who just joined the team and has been hitting better lately and kept it up on Monday.
But Cashman thinks it will happen soon.
And compared to last year, when the Yankees scored the 19th-most runs, this year’s lineup has a better track record.
After the season was over, hitting coach Marcus Thames and assistant hitting coach P.J. Pilittere were fired, and Dillon Lawson, Casey Dykes, and Hensley Meulens were hired.
Having healthy players helps, of course.
If Stanton got back into shape, it would help. Even though he was out for a month, he is still third on the team in home runs (24), OPS (.807), and OPS-plus (OPS-plus) (128).
He will start out as a designated hitter (DH), but he will sometimes move back to the outfield.
Still, Stanton didn’t agree with the idea that he could fix all of the offense problems on the team.
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