Yankees To Activate Giancarlo Stanton On Tuesday

Giancarlo Stanton is set to make his return to the Yankees lineup, as manager Aaron Boone told reporters (including ESPN.com’s Coley Harvey) that Stanton is on track to be activated from the injured list on Tuesday.  The slugger is winding up a Triple-A rehab stint and will join the Yankees in the midst of an important AL East series against the Rays.

Stanton played in only three games before originally hitting the IL with a biceps injury.  While that issue was seemingly cleared up in a few weeks’ time, Stanton then suffered a left shoulder strain and then some calf tightness that extended his stint on the injured list to two and a half months.  These maladies spoiled what had been a pretty solid run of health for Stanton, who played in 317 of a possible 324 games in 2017-18 following a more checkered injury history earlier in his career.

Despite lacking Stanton and seemingly half their roster to injury at one point or another, the Yankees enter the day with a 42-27 record and a hold on first place in the AL East (albeit only a half-game ahead of Tampa Bay).  With Aaron Judge also closing in on a return and Edwin Encarnacion newly acquired from the Mariners, New York is on the verge of adding three of the sport’s very best power bats to an already-impressive lineup.  Encarnacion’s addition means that the DH spot will largely be spoken for, though the Yankees surely have a plan to keep Stanton fresh after his long layoff rather than run him out in left field every single game.