BOSTON — Giancarlo Stanton hasn’t played, due to left Achilles tendinitis, since a pinch-hit appearance in Baltimore on July 23, and as of Friday, there’s no telling when he might be back.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone had suggested Stanton might be with the team this weekend, although he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to play.
Instead, Stanton is in New York, where he went through some baseball activities on Friday.
But he still hasn’t run the bases or faced live pitching and Boone said Friday he may need some rehab games before he’s ready to be return to the Yankees’ lineup.
The injury continues to impact Stanton most during the morning.
“He gets better as he gets going,’’ Boone said before the Yankees’ 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park. “He can move around and he’s pleased with the progression.”
Giancarlo StantonGetty Images Asked if the recovery is going more slowly than anticipated, Boone said: “I don’t know. Maybe because I threw out the Boston [return] … he’s moving in a pretty good direction. Because we identified it, we hope in the grand scheme of things, it’s a fairly minor situation. The progress maybe has been slow, but we feel it’s [been] steady.”
Since Stanton’s last appearance, the Yankees have gone 6-11 and have averaged just over 4.5 runs per game. They averaged more than five runs a game before Stanton got hurt.
“It’s Giancarlo Stanton,’’ Boone said of the impact of being without the slugger. “That’s a big presence, not only with the production he provides, but his presence in the lineup. He’s one more elite hitter to have to go through and plan for and [able to] wear somebody down. Of course we miss him. That said, I feel, overall, the last several games, we’ve been putting up runs. We had a couple of off days [offensively in Seattle] in scoring. We’re talking [Stanton]. We miss him.”
Luis Severino threw while on flat ground Friday in preparation for his first bullpen session, on Monday, since he suffered a strained lat. Severino was somewhat surprisingly placed on the 60-day IL after being removed from his most recent start on July 13.
The Yankees opted to make the roster move to open up a spot on the 40-man roster, since it only backed the right-hander up by another week or so after they shut him down.
But Severino was not pleased with the move.
He’s expected to be back in time to make about four or five starts before the end of the regular season, which would line him up to be part of the playoff rotation.
Among the reasons the Yankees traded Jordan Montgomery before the deadline was the belief he wouldn’t be used in the postseason, with Gerrit Cole, Frankie Montas, Nestor Cortes and Severino — and perhaps Jameson Taillon — ahead of him in the rotation.
Matt Carpenter saw another foot specialist in New York on Friday and the diagnosis on his fractured left foot hasn’t changed. He is prohibited from weight-bearing activity for the next week or two and he’ll get another X-ray in three or four weeks to see how it’s healing.
The injury is expected to take six to eight weeks to heal, since it doesn’t need surgery.
Carpenter vowed to return before the end of the season and the typical timeline would allow him to come back for the last week or so before the playoffs.
Zack Britton threw another live batting practice and will ease up over the next week before having a better idea of when he can begin a rehab assignment after elbow surgery last year.
