The Yankees have another injury problem on their hands, and this one lands right in the middle of the lineup. Giancarlo Stanton is dealing with a right calf strain, and the latest update doesn’t exactly bring relief.
According to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, Stanton is not with the team in Tampa, Fla., and he still has not resumed running. The 36-year-old last played on April 24, and Aaron Boone still can’t give a timetable for when he might be back.
That leaves New York staring at the same issue it has been wrestling with for weeks: the offense has not been good enough, and the injuries to Stanton and Aaron Judge have only made it worse. With the Aug. 3 trade deadline getting closer, Brian Cashman has to decide how aggressive he wants to be.
One name that will keep coming up is Byron Buxton. The Minnesota Twins outfielder would make sense on paper, but for the Yankees, he looks like the wrong kind of swing.
Buxton can hit. He leads the Twins with 25 home runs, which ties him with Yankees first baseman Ben Rice for fifth in the majors.
He also sits 11th in the majors with a .904 OPS, and ESPN projects him to finish with a career-high 45 home runs. On top of that, he brings elite defense, with both a Gold Glove Award and a Platinum Glove Award on his résumé.
That’s the appeal. The problem is everything around it.
Buxton is 32, and the Yankees already have enough age baked into their core. Stanton is 36.
Judge is 34. Cody Bellinger is 30.
Once Judge returns from his fractured rib, New York could be looking at an outfield that is all 30-plus. That is not exactly the profile a team wants to lean into.
Then there’s the money. Buxton has two years left on his seven-year, $100 million deal, which would leave the Yankees responsible for more than $30 million over the next two-plus seasons.
And of course, Minnesota would want real value back. That likely means top prospects, and Cashman has more urgent needs to address if he’s going to spend those chips. Shortstop, catcher, the bullpen, and possibly the starting rotation all sit ahead of another outfield bat.
Buxton is going to be one of the most talked-about names on the market if the Twins decide to move him. Jim Bowden of The Athletic wrote Monday, "I would even talk to Byron Buxton to see if he would waive his no-trade clause if I could deal him to either the Braves or Yankees," and ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel list him as the No. 2 trade deadline target. Their best fits include the Yankees, Phillies, Padres, Diamondbacks, Braves, Rays, Cardinals, and Rangers.
Minnesota, meanwhile, is in third place in the AL Central, four games behind the first-place Chicago White Sox, and 1.5 games back for the final spot in the AL Wild Card standings. FanGraphs gives the Twins a 32.9% chance to make the playoffs, so Buxton may not move at all.
If he does, though, the Yankees probably shouldn’t be the team to take the plunge.
In Other News...
Yankees Suddenly Have New Deadline Chips Fans Arent Talking About
A few lower-level Yankees prospects have started to make themselves more interesting at just the right moment, and that matters with the August 3 trade deadline approaching. Thatcher Hurd, Kyle Carr and Stiven Marinez are each showing enough in their own way to draw attention, whether it is Hurd working back from Tommy John surgery, Carr handling both Double-A and Triple-A, or Marinez holding his own in Rookie Ball.
For a front office that is always weighing present needs against future depth, that kind of progress can change the conversation quickly. Hurds recent outing hinted at real upside, Carr has paired command with swing-and-miss stuff, and Marinez has been productive as a teenager in the Florida Complex League after the Yankees made room for him in the international market. If those trends keep going, the Yankees may have a few more ways to navigate the deadline than fans realize. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Suddenly Linked To The Deadline Move Fans Have Been Demanding
The Yankees recent slide has only sharpened the conversation around what they might need to do before the trade deadline, especially with the club looking for a way to steady itself after a rough stretch. With about a month left before the 2026 deadline, the focus is drifting toward big-name pitching help, and one familiar front-line arm has started to surface in that conversation as a possible fit for a team trying to get back on track.
Sandy Alcantara is the kind of starter who would change the tone of any deadline discussion, and his name carries obvious appeal for a Yankees club that wants more certainty on the mound. Even so, any pursuit comes with the usual questions tied to his recent injury history and how he would hold up over the rest of the season, which is part of why this feels like the sort of move that could dominate the final weeks before the deadline. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Deadline Reunion Rumor Raises Big Question About This Lineup
The Yankees offense has spent much of the season looking like a group still searching for a spark, which is why any deadline chatter tied to middle-infield help is going to draw attention. One name floating into the conversation is a familiar one, and the appeal is obvious on the surface: a bat with enough familiarity to make the fit feel easy, at least in theory, for a club trying to patch over its lineup issues.
But the deeper look is where the uncertainty starts to creep in. The player in question has dealt with oblique trouble for much of the year, and even with the Yankees clearly needing more production, there are reasons to wonder whether this is the kind of move that solves the right problem. For a team under pressure to hit better now, the deadline will be about more than reunion nostalgia. [Read more 🡒]