CHICAGO – The hits keep coming for the Yankees, and not the good kind.
Cody Bellinger was diagnosed with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain on 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 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 scuffling 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 on Saturday night against the Phillies.
But there is no replacing the five-tool player and All-Star left fielder who typically has a hand in so many areas of the game.
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 was in the lineup Monday in center field to give Trent Grisham, who missed three weeks earlier this season with a hamstring strain of his own, a day off.
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 the bases, as he makes slow progress.
