Top-heavy Yankees lineup worryingly thin after Giancarlo Stanton injury

Brian Cashman surely received no politeness points when he startled us all back at the GM Meetings in November by saying Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton was going to get hurt. GMs generally don’t make negative predictions about their players, especially marquee players, but fairly, Cashman turned out to be correct. Stanton’s pain is unfortunately becoming predictable.

And, say what you want about Stanton — and even his own GM obviously did! — his absence with hamstring trouble hurts them as much as it does him.

Maybe he isn’t the guy who once hit 59 home runs, but he’s inarguably the third of three huge threats in the star-infused lineup that’s scored more runs than all but the Orioles and Dodgers. He’s also the active home run leader with 420 and was on pace to hit 37 in 2024.

Fans and even his own front office can criticize Stanton, and do, but he obviously worked all winter to become leaner and looks as fit as anyone in MLB (Also to his credit, wallop, whiff or even injury Stanton is invariably a stand-up guy). They trash him, but now they all may learn how much they’ll miss him.

“He’s been that force that you want in the middle,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He’s been that threat every day.”

Putting aside that Boone is preternaturally more diplomatic than almost anyone (not just Cashman), he’s right. The lineup with Stanton looks ominous. Without him, not so much.

The Yankees termed Stanton’s hamstring strain “mild” after an MRI exam but officially declined to provide a timetable. In the first game without him, played against the Braves in Atlanta-style weather (that is to say muggy and crappy) before a sellout crowd at the Stadium, the Yankees fell meekly, 3-1.

That can happen against ace Max Fried. But the lineup Boone presumably wrote seems to hit a wall somewhere around that middle now, at least based on current stats.

Which is why the Yankees picked up J.D. Davis on Sunday. While it doesn’t look great that he was DFA’ed by the practically homeless A’s, he also looks like he can help. Boone said Davis could be part of a platoon, which suggested he’d be playing first base, but third base could use a boost, too.

The ex-Met Davis was said by a friend to be “fired up” by the trade to the Yankees, but that’s also his nature. He’s perpetually fired up.

The Yankees were hoping not to have to worry about position players at the deadline, and to concentrate on a pen that’s continually in transition. But with injuries to Anthony Rizzo and now Stanton, and the struggles of the bottom half of the order, they have little choice now.

Gleyber Torres, in the midst a nightmare season, batted fifth Sunday.

Two-time batting champion DJ LeMahieu, who has zero extra-base hits since returning from his latest foot issue (.185 slugging percentage), was sixth.

Enthusiastic rookie Ben Rice was next, followed by catcher Jose Trevino, who’s having a nice season, and Trent Grisham, who’s hitting .136 after two hits Sunday.

“The problem is when you take out your five- and six-hole hitters, you end up replacing them with down-in-the-order guys,” one AL scout said. “So your new five- and six-hole hitters are Torres and LeMahieu and they both [are struggling] now. Their lineup looks like the top four can get it done and that’s it. And wait ’til Judge goes down.”

(Me: Judge is not only perfectly healthy, he’s easily the AL MVP so far.)

The Yankees have a superb record and glossy team stats, but let’s face it, this team is top-heavy. And Stanton’s absence makes them that much more top-heavy.

Of course, it’s a blessing the Yankees have the top two MVP candidates (or 1 and 3 if you prefer Gunnar Henderson to Juan Soto). But Stanton’s injury is the latest reminder of how dependent they are on two megastars.

Together Aaron Judge and Soto accounted for 57 percent of the home runs in Sunday’s lineup, and 48 percent of the RBIs. And even Soto is so-so the past few days.

Regarding Stanton’s injury, Boone sounded rather hopeful (he’s naturally hopeful, too!). Another Yankees person (not Cashman) opined it isn’t encouraging that Stanton’s injury occurred while going three-quarters speed on a scoring play (wisely, he plays it carefully based on history). As for Cashman, he hasn’t weighed in yet.

What he said back in November, which required Cashman to give an explanation to Stanton’s agent Joel Wolfe, was this: “I’m not going to tell you he’s going to play every game next year because he’s not. He’s going to wind up getting hurt again more likely than not because it seems to be part of his game.”

Before Stanton revealed that doctors are predicting four weeks out for him, Boone declined to give a timetable for Stanton, which seems prudent considering how often teams underestimate the pain of players. Well, maybe not Cashman, who’s unfortunately batting 1.000 here.