It was reported on Sunday night by Randy Miller of NJ.com ($) that New York Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton was flying back to New York to meet with the head of the organization's medical team to determine the extent of the injuries he's dealing with in both of his elbows.
Opening Day is still a little over a month away, but Stanton dealing with enough pain to have to go back up to New York is a bad sign regarding his availability when the regular season does begin. And the setback, as well as the ambiguity regarding his timetable for a return, was doubly frustrating considering that's been dealing with this injury since last season.
But now, all of a sudden, Yankees manager Aaron Boone seemed to hint at Stanton going back to New York for an entirely different reason.
“I can tell you he is in New York, but it’s personal in nature and I’m going to leave it at that for now,” manager Aaron Boone said Monday in Fort Myers, where the Yankees were set to play the Red Sox at JetBlue Park. “That’s all I can comment on that.”
Well, which is it? Is Stanton going to New York for a follow-up on his injury or is there a personal matter he's dealing with? Obviously, if Stanton is dealing with a personal issue, all we can do is hope everything is alright. But what exactly is going on here?
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Aaron Boone's Giancarlo Stanton update provides more questions than answers
Someone is wrong here. Either Stanton really is dealing with something personal or the Yankees just don't want to make it seem as if his injury is bad enough to the point where he had to go to New York and get it checked out. The lack of transparency is frustrating, to say the least. Hopefully, Stanton is alright with whatever is going on.
This is just the latest case of drama surrounding the Yankees. From Marcus Stroman's refusal to move to the bullpen to the team altering some of its historic traditions to this, it's been a wild spring training for all sorts of off-field reasons, and the team has only played three Grapefruit League games.
All this update does is add even more uncertainty to Stanton's return timeline. Hopefully, Boone's next update will provide more clarity in regards to what is going on with the slugger.