CHICAGO — The hits keep coming for the Yankees, just not the kind they’ve been searching for.
Cody Bellinger was diagnosed with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain Monday, which will likely keep him out four to six weeks, manager Aaron Boone said at Rate Field.
It is another serious blow to a Yankees lineup already missing Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, who still have uncertain timelines for a return, and emphasizes the need to acquire help offensively before next Monday’s trade deadline.
“Obviously we’ve had some tough, tough injuries to some really important people,” Boone said under literal (and figurative) dark clouds, just before the skies opened up ahead of the series opener against the White Sox. “But again, that is part of it. The season waits for no one. It creates an opportunity, legitimately does, for one or more people to go plug that hole, to develop, to grow. We feel very much that we have capable guys that are capable of going out there and performing at a high level.
“So we got to weather that storm, and confident we can do that.”
The Yankees had already been struggling offensively with Bellinger, who went through his own extended slump before turning it around for a stretch before he got hurt legging out a double Saturday night against the Phillies.
But there is no replacing the five-tool player and All-Star left fielder — who has been the game’s best defender at that position — especially at a time when the Yankees are already missing two other former MVPs.
The Yankees were set to start Max Schuemann in left field Monday for the second straight game — both against lefty starters — but Spencer Jones is expected to get the bulk of starts against righties. Jones, who was in the lineup Monday in center field to give Trent Grisham a breather, looked better in his second stint than his first earlier this season and now in his third, will get a real chance to make an impact, barring getting traded by next week.
“It’s going to take the whole roster,” Boone said. “It’s going to take all of us, not just at the start of the game, who’s starting, but sometimes who’s coming in and things like that.”
Judge and Stanton are both on this trip with the Yankees but neither is particularly close to a return. Judge is still waiting for more healing on his right rib stress fracture before he can be cleared for baseball activities while Stanton, dealing with a second right calf strain, is said to be running but not yet on the bases, as he makes slow progress. The veteran DH has now missed three months while Judge is closing in on two, and it is not out of the question that neither Judge, Stanton nor Bellinger plays another game until September.
The Yankees are taking some encouragement in the fact that Bellinger has been able to move around some in the two days since he was injured, including doing some light agility drills on Sunday in Philadelphia before he returned to New York for an MRI on Monday that revealed a more severe strain than they were necessarily expecting.
It remains to be seen whether Bellinger’s injury — on top of Judge’s — affects their trade deadline plans at all, though Boone did not think it would lead GM Brian Cashman to be more aggressive because the front office has already been working hard to find ways to improve the club.
But for the second straight day, the Yankees lineup offered spring training vibes — including Schuemann leading off — as they tried to hold the fort down without three of their most established bats who they hope to get back still with a shot to chase their October dreams.
“It’s different,” Boone said. “There’s no sugarcoating missing great players right now — all players we’re confident are going to be back in our lineup at some point. So there’s that excitement. But we also feel like we have people capable of stepping up and helping us win games on a nightly basis.”
