NEW YORK — Even as they keep winning, the Yankees cannot catch a break on the health front. A fresh round of updates Tuesday delivered far more discouraging news than good.
One promising sign on the pitching side was buried under setbacks across the roster. A key outfielder, a slugging veteran, and the team’s top prospect all landed in the bad-news column.
For a club already missing Aaron Judge, the timing of the pileup is far from ideal.
Grisham facing weeks on the shelf
The most significant blow involves Trent Grisham. Imaging taken Monday confirmed the fear that the center fielder would be sidelined for a meaningful stretch.
The tests revealed a moderate right hamstring strain, manager Aaron Boone said. The diagnosis was worse than the team had initially hoped when Grisham pulled up lame on the bases last week.
Boone did not attach a firm timeline, but the injury figures to cost Grisham at least two to three weeks. The manager framed it as more than a brief absence.
“He’s going to miss a little bit of time,” Boone said of Grisham, who has been able to do some baseball activities already.
The timing stings for Grisham, who had become one of the Yankees’ most reliable bats. He was swinging the bat as well as anyone in the lineup.
Grisham carried a .994 OPS over his previous 20 games before the injury. Even more recently, he had collected four extra-base hits across his last seven contests, a sign that he was locked in at the plate.
Losing that production forces the Yankees to keep reshuffling an outfield that has already been stretched thin. Spencer Jones slid back to center field, his most natural position, in Grisham’s absence.
Stanton reinjures his calf
The next setback delivered a fresh dose of frustration for the Yankees. Giancarlo Stanton, already out since late April, suffered a discouraging relapse.
An MRI exam on Monday revealed that Stanton reinjured the right calf strain that has kept him off the field for nearly two months. He felt the discomfort while running the bases.
Stanton said the sensation was similar to when the injury first struck in Houston. The recurrence is especially deflating because of how close he appeared to returning.
He had hoped to be back as soon as Wednesday. Instead, that timeline has now been pushed back indefinitely, leaving the Yankees without his right-handed power for the foreseeable future.
Lombard Jr. exits with a scary moment
The third piece of bad news arrived from the minor leagues, and it rattled the Yankees. Top prospect George Lombard Jr. left Tuesday’s Triple-A game with an apparent injury.
Playing shortstop for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Lombard was hurt in the fourth inning while trying to handle a one-hop throw on a stolen-base attempt. Columbus runner Bo Naylor slid directly into Lombard’s left hand, knocking the glove clean off.
The 21-year-old clasped his hands together and doubled over on the infield in clear pain. According to the YES Network, he appeared to jam his wrist on the play.
Lombard stayed in to finish the inning but was replaced at shortstop the following frame. The Yankees did not immediately announce the severity of the injury.
The scare is unwelcome given Lombard’s recent surge for the Yankees organization. He had been forcing his way into the team’s plans.
Lombard entered Tuesday riding an eight-game hitting streak, with six doubles and two home runs in that span. He is hitting .258 with an .833 OPS across 62 minor league games this season between Double-A Somerset and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The 21-year-old ranks as the No. 18 prospect in baseball, per MLB Pipeline. With the Yankees facing questions on the left side of their infield, there had been growing thought that Lombard could reach the Bronx at some point this season.
Fried bullpen offers a bright spot
Amid the gloom, the Yankees did receive one genuinely encouraging update. Max Fried took a real step in his recovery from a left elbow bone bruise.
The left-hander threw a bullpen session Tuesday and reported no issues afterward. Boone said Fried came out of it asymptomatic, a key marker as he builds back up.
Fried, one of the best arms on the staff before the injury sidelined him in mid-May, is expected back next month. The clean session allows the Yankees to start shifting the conversation from concern toward a return timeline.
Dominguez dental note adds to the shuffle
One more minor absence factored into the Yankees’ Tuesday lineup. Jasson Dominguez was held out for an unusual reason.
Dominguez was not in the starting nine after having a tooth pulled earlier in the day. The procedure was minor, but it added to the day-to-day juggling Boone has been forced to manage.
The Yankees have leaned on their depth all season, and these updates will test it further. Grisham’s hamstring, Stanton’s calf relapse, and Lombard’s hand scare all landed on the same day, with only Fried’s bullpen offering relief. New York will look to keep winning while the medical questions sort themselves out, but the margin for the banged-up Yankees just grew a little thinner.
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