From the day he arrived at spring training, Giancarlo Stanton has made it clear he may have to administer the pain in his elbows each time he returns from the injured list.
That day may finally be approaching — perhaps by the tip of this month — and after facing live pitching for the primary time Tuesday, the veteran DH was feeling adequate to take more batting practice on the sphere Wednesday as he continues to ramp up his workload.
“I don’t wish to keep talking about this, because I’ve been again and again it,” Stanton said Wednesday when asked in regards to the specifics of his elbow pain. “If I’m on the market, I’m adequate to play. There’s no levels of the rest.”
Stanton and the Yankees have declined to place a timetable on his return from tennis elbows throughout this process, though his recent transfer to the 60-day IL ensured it would not come before May 23.
Nevertheless it might not be long after that if the 35-year-old keeps progressing like he has been these days, especially because as a DH he won’t need the standard rehab project that the majority would after missing the primary two months of the season.
When Stanton has returned from the IL in recent seasons, his rehab assignments (if he took one in any respect) have lasted only a game or two, since the Yankees feel the work he gets off the Trajekt (a pitching machine that mimics pitch shapes of real major leaguers) and live batting practice sessions are only as helpful.
Stanton indicated Wednesday he would “probably” need some rehab games depending on which rehabbing teammates were available for him to face in live batting practice before then.
“I do know when G.’s in there, he’s able to go,” Boone said before the Yankees’ 4-3 comeback win over the Padres in The Bronx. “He’s not going to be in there if he doesn’t feel like he will be really productive. I do know when that point comes, when he’s ready to do this, we must be in a superb spot.
“Hopefully we’ve done some things within the latter a part of the winter into early spring that’ll set him as much as be a bit of more physically capable of do it and withstand it, but additionally obviously understand he’ll probably cope with some things. But he was coping with it pretty darn well down the stretch last 12 months.”
Jonathan Loáisiga is now on the doorstep of The Bronx, even when he continues to be about two weeks away from getting there.
Nearly 13 months faraway from UCL surgery, Loáisiga had his rehab project transferred to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where he threw two scoreless innings Wednesday on 19 pitches with two strikeouts.
If the righty reliever comes out of that well, the rough schedule for him is to pitch again on Sunday and Tuesday before going back-to-back next Saturday and Sunday — the last hurdle for him to clear.
Assuming he doesn’t have any setbacks, Loáisiga may very well be activated from the IL as early as May 20.
“He looks great,” Boone said. “I’m really enthusiastic about where Lo is. When he was throwing bullpens once we got to Tampa [for spring training], I believed it looked great. Then he had a de-load phase where he backs off a bit of. He’s been really good. He looks good. I’m definitely excited to get him back.
“Lo at his best has been a killer.”
DJ LeMahieu went 2-for-3 while playing seven innings at third base Wednesday for SWB.
Will Warren and Carlos Rodón are listed because the probable Yankees starters for his or her first two games against the A’s this weekend before “TBA” on Sunday.
That may very well be when Ryan Yarbrough or Allan Winans slots into the rotation for the DFA’d Carlos Carrasco, though Boone said they’d make that call based on the outcomes of the games Wednesday and Friday — because they might need Yarbrough out of the bullpen before Sunday.
Clarke Schmidt is currently scheduled to pitch on his sixth day Monday, though Boone said that might change if needed.
