GIANCARLO STANTON SHOULD RETIRE. THERE, I SAID IT.

I hate writing this because I actually like Giancarlo Stanton.

The guy has never bothered me. He works. He doesn't make excuses. He has delivered some monster moments for the Yankees, especially when the lights get brighter. And when he gets a hold of one, it's still one of the greatest sights in baseball.

But enough. Giancarlo Stanton should retire.

Not because he's a bad player. Not because he's a bad teammate. And certainly not because I'm blaming the guy for getting hurt. I'm saying it because at some point your body gets a vote.

And Stanton's body has been voting NO for years. Since coming to the Yankees, we've seen injuries involving his biceps, shoulder, knee, quad, ankle, Achilles, hamstrings, elbows and enough calf problems to make you wonder if the Yankees should just bubble-wrap him between at-bats.

That's not being cruel. That's the history. In 2019, Stanton played just 18 regular-season games. Then came more calf trouble in 2020, along with a hamstring strain. The quad followed in 2021. Ankle and Achilles issues arrived in 2022. Another significant hamstring injury cost him nearly two months in 2023. Another hamstring strain cost him 28 games in 2024.

Last year? Both elbows. Stanton missed the first 70 games of 2025 dealing with tendon problems. And somehow, 2026 has topped all of it. Stanton hurt his right calf in April. He spent nearly four months trying to get back. He had already suffered a setback with that calf earlier in the process.

Then, finally, he reached what was essentially the last major hurdle before beginning a rehab assignment: running the bases.

And he fell. And strained the other calf. You can't make this stuff up. The Yankees announced yesterday that Stanton suffered a moderate strain of his left calf while working his way back from the right calf injury. Aaron Boone acknowledged that, this late in the calendar, getting Stanton back this season has become extremely challenging.

He has played 24 games this season. Twenty-four. That's where my opinion changed. This isn't about waiting for Stanton to get healthy anymore. We've been waiting for Stanton to get healthy for most of his Yankee career. It's about reliability.

The Yankees are supposed to be building a championship roster, and you simply cannot construct that roster while repeatedly reserving an important spot for a player you have absolutely no idea will be available.

That's not roster construction. That's roulette. And before somebody tells me Stanton can still hit — I know. That's what makes this sad. There is still serious power in that bat. There are still moments when Stanton looks like the most terrifying guy walking toward the batter's box. This isn't Willie Mays stumbling around with the Mets. Stanton can still punish a baseball.

The problem is getting him into the batter's box in the first place. He's 36 years old. He's under contract through 2027. And after this latest setback, the Yankees are once again discussing whether he'll even make it back onto a baseball field this season.

How many more times are we going to do this? Injury. IL. Rehab. Running. Setback. Aaron Boone update. More rehab. Hope. Another body part.

Stanton has had a hell of a career. MVP. Five-time All-Star. One of the premier power hitters of his generation. He has carried himself professionally in New York and given Yankee fans some unforgettable postseason moments.

That's how I'd rather remember him. Not as a 37-year-old trying to coax one more season out of legs that have been screaming at him for years. There is dignity in knowing when it's time. And for Giancarlo Stanton, I think we've reached it.

Retire, Big G. It's the right move as much as I don't want to see it happen. Retire.

Not because you can't hit anymore. Because the Yankees and us fans can't keep waiting to find out whether you'll be healthy enough to try.

CODY BELLINGER IS BACK… AND THE TIMING COULDN’T BE BETTER

Cody Bellinger didn't exactly tear up Triple-A pitching during his rehab assignment.

Good. He didn't need to.

Bellinger is expected back with the Yankees today after missing nearly a month with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain. His rehab stop with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre was less about batting averages and more about making sure everything still worked.

On Friday, Bellinger went 0-for-3 against Charlotte, but played six innings in left field and, more importantly, actually had to use the hamstring. A couple of fly balls sent him moving around the outfield, he handled them without a problem and walked away healthy.

That's all I needed to see.

Rehab games aren't supposed to be auditions. Bellinger already has the job. They're about getting your legs underneath you, seeing some live pitching and making sure nothing pops, pulls or explodes.

Mission accomplished.

Now Bellinger returns to a Yankee team that needs every healthy, productive bat it can get for the stretch run.

Forget the 0-for-3.

The best number from his rehab assignment was zero setbacks.

Welcome back, Belli. Let's get to work.

RON MARINACCIO REFUSES TO GO AWAY

I always liked Ron Marinaccio.

Maybe it was because he felt like one of our guys. A 19th-round Yankees draft pick who wasn't supposed to become much of anything, Marinaccio simply kept pitching his way up the ladder until suddenly he was standing on the mound in the Bronx getting big-league hitters out.

And getting them out pretty damn well, too.

As a rookie in 2022, Marinaccio posted a 2.05 ERA in 40 appearances, striking out 56 in 44 innings. Opponents hit just .149 against him. For a while there, the kid from Toms River looked like another bullpen steal the Yankees had dug out of nowhere.

But baseball careers rarely travel in straight lines. Since leaving New York, Marinaccio's journey has looked more like somebody dropped the GPS in a blender. San Diego. Pittsburgh. Cincinnati. Waivers. DFA. Another opportunity. Another DFA.

And now, Minnesota. The Twins signed Marinaccio to a minor-league deal after he elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment from Cincinnati. His 2026 numbers aren't pretty — a 6.09 ERA overall — but his career ERA still sits at 3.98 over 183 major-league innings.

So maybe there's still something there.

That's what resilience looks like in baseball. It's not always some dramatic Hollywood comeback. Sometimes it's getting punched in the mouth, packing another suitcase and saying, OK, who's got a baseball? I loved Marinaccio when he was a Yankee, and I'm rooting for him now.

He's still got another inning in him. Go get 'em, Ron.

THE BLEEDING YANKEE BLUE MERCH EXPLOSION

I have to admit, this has gotten a little out of control. In a good way.

If you've looked at the Bleeding Yankee Blue Store lately, you probably noticed something: this isn't just a handful of BYB shirts anymore. The store has exploded with new designs, new collections and some wonderfully strange ideas—and that's exactly where I wanted it to go.

Look at what we're doing now.

CLICK TO SHOP

We've got the traditional Bleeding Yankee Blue gear—the classic shirts, tanks, hoodies and game-day stuff that represents this blog and the Yankee fans who have supported us since 2010.

But then things get interesting.

We've got our Mafia Collection, mixing Italian-American attitude, humor and old-school imagery into shirts you aren't going to see hanging next to the generic baseball tees at the mall.

CLICK TO SHOP

We've expanded our holiday selection.  We are working on Christmas, Thanksgiving, even Easter designs!  We got St. Patrick's Day BYB gear, patriotic designs, women's styles, rugged baseball shirts and plenty of classic Bleeding Yankee Blue looks.

And then there are the designs I probably enjoy the most—the weird, obscure baseball stuff.

Bernie. The Boss. Old baseball references. Inside jokes. Designs that might make a baseball fan stop, look at your shirt and need three seconds before saying:

"Oh my God. I get it."

THAT'S what I want.

There is enough generic sports merchandise in the world.

I want Bleeding Yankee Blue merchandise to have some personality. Sports mixed with humor. Baseball mixed with nostalgia. Yankee culture mixed with things we grew up with, things we remember and things that simply make us laugh.

Some of these designs are going to be very different from anything you're used to seeing in sports merchandise.

Good. Bleeding Yankee Blue has been different since 2010. We started as an independent, grassroots Yankee blog built around one simple thing: being fans. No corporate voice. No pretending everything is wonderful when it isn't. We celebrate the Yankees when they deserve it, blast them when they deserve that too, and we've always tried to have some fun along the way. The store is becoming a physical extension of that personality.

You can click here for the entire store!

It's hosted through Dashery, powered by TeePublic, which gives independent creators like BYB a standalone shop while they handle manufacturing, shipping and customer support. That allows me to concentrate on what I enjoy most:

Coming up with the next idea. And believe me, some of them are pretty damn obscure. But the best part of all this remains the people who have been here all along.

You.

The Bleeding Yankee Blue audience has been incredibly loyal for nearly 16 years. You've read the blog, shared our stories, argued with me, laughed with me, celebrated wins and suffered through some absolutely ridiculous Yankee baseball. Now I'm seeing people wearing BYB.

That's pretty cool. So no, Bleeding Yankee Blue isn't "just getting started." We've been here since 2010. The difference is that now the store finally looks like us. Yankees. Baseball. Humor. Nostalgia. Italian attitude. Patriotism. Obscure references. And absolutely no interest in being ordinary.

That's Bleeding Yankee Blue.

Wear it. Live it. Have some fun with it.

YANKS LOSE & WEATHERS OUT!

The Yankees are banking on pitching to carry them deep into October. Well, today gave us another reason to start sweating.

Ryan Weathers left the Yankees’ 4-3 loss to Toronto with left forearm discomfort and is headed for imaging. Those are three words nobody wants to hear about a pitcher in late August.

Weathers wasn't particularly sharp before leaving—72 pitches for just 10 outs—but that's almost irrelevant now. The bigger issue is whether the Yankees just lost an important piece of their rotation at the absolute worst possible time.

And there’s reason for concern. Weathers has dealt with forearm and lat problems before, making only eight starts last season, and he also missed significant time with a finger injury in 2024. Now, after pushing past his previous career high in innings, the forearm starts barking.

Wonderful.

The Yankees need healthy arms for September and October, not another mystery injury followed by an MRI and crossed fingers.

Hopefully this is nothing.

Because if it isn't, the Yankees' postseason pitching plan just got a whole lot thinner.

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO GIANCARLO STANTON?

At some point, somebody needs to explain what the hell happened to Giancarlo Stanton.

Stanton has been out since April 24 with a right calf strain. Then he suffered another setback in that same calf in June. Now, while finally working his way toward a return, Stanton fell while running the bases and strained his left calf. Aaron Boone called it a moderate strain, and with the calendar sitting in late August, his season is suddenly in serious jeopardy.

Unbelievable.

And yes, Stanton has an extensive injury history. Nobody is pretending otherwise. But I have questions for the Yankees, too.

What exactly is happening with this organization's training, rehabilitation and recovery operation?

This isn't some guy who rushed back after two weeks. Stanton has spent nearly four months rehabbing. The entire purpose of that process is to carefully rebuild the body so the player can eventually handle baseball activities again. Yet here we are: Stanton was rehabbing one calf and somehow injured the other one running the bases.

How?

Maybe this is simply terrible luck. Maybe Stanton's 36-year-old body just isn't cooperating anymore. But the Yankees have had enough injury and rehabilitation headaches over the years that their process deserves scrutiny.

Because Stanton played just 24 games this season, and now there's a legitimate possibility we won't see him again in 2026.

That's not just disappointing. It's ridiculous.

Somebody inside that organization needs to start asking harder questions about why getting important players healthy — and keeping them healthy — continues to feel like such an adventure.

CASHMAN BUYS ANOTHER LOTTERY TICKET

The Yankees are digging through the pitching bargain bin again.

New York has signed right-hander Eli Morgan to a minor-league deal, adding another arm to the organization and, presumably, another project for the pitching department.

Morgan, 30, hasn't exactly lit up the radar gun—or the stat sheet—this season. He posted a 5.12 ERA with 16 strikeouts over 19⅓ innings with Kansas City before eventually hitting free agency.

So why bother?

Because this is what the Yankees do. They see an arm, find something they think they can tweak and toss it into the Matt Blake laboratory. And Morgan isn't completely without a résumé. He posted a 1.93 ERA over 42 innings for Cleveland in 2024, so there's at least evidence that the guy can pitch when everything is clicking.

It's a minor-league deal. There's virtually no risk here. Maybe Morgan rediscovers something and helps the Yankees down the stretch. Maybe he's simply organizational depth and we never see him in the Bronx.

Either way, Cashman bought another lottery ticket.

At least this one didn't cost $20 million.

ALL THE TOOLS ARE THERE. LET LOMBARD COOK.

Let’s state something for the record: since George Lombard Jr. arrived in the big leagues, he has been a breath of fresh air.

Actually, make that a huge breath of fresh air that the Yankees desperately needed. The kid looks like he belongs. He moves like a natural athlete, plays with energy, runs the bases aggressively and — imagine this — actually looks comfortable playing shortstop for the New York Yankees.

 

Since his arrival, the Yankees have been playing better baseball, and Lombard has already found ways to contribute beyond the box score. On Wednesday in Baltimore, for example, he drove in two runs, including the go-ahead run in the eighth inning of a 5-3 Yankees win, not the mention homers, smooth fielding plays, great instincts.

And this is precisely why I have a problem with anyone suddenly reaching for the panic button when the kid screws something up. Because he will screw something up. He's a kid.

Friday night against Toronto, Lombard dropped a foul ball at shortstop. It was an error. It wasn't pretty.

So what?

He's 21 years old.

Back on July 26, before Lombard ever stepped onto a major-league field, I wrote this:

“Will George Lombard Jr. struggle when he gets to New York?

Of course he will. Every rookie does.

Aaron Judge struggled. Derek Jeter struggled.

The difference is those struggles come attached to legitimate upside. They're part of developing a player whose ceiling still looks incredibly high. With Volpe, Yankees fans aren't watching growing pains anymore. They're watching the same movie over and over, hoping the ending changes. It hasn't.”

And that is exactly where I still stand. There is absolutely no comparison between what we're watching with Lombard and what we watched for years with Anthony Volpe.

The Yankees handed Volpe the major-league shortstop job and essentially decided to finish his development in the Bronx. The training wheels were attached while the Yankees were trying to win baseball games. Mistakes became patterns. Patterns became seasons. And eventually Volpe, at 25 years old, was sent back to the minors.

Lombard's situation is totally different. The Yankees drafted him in 2023 and developed him through their system slowly. He earned his promotions. In 2026, he hit .284 with a .411 on-base percentage and .909 OPS in the minors before getting the call.

Then he arrived in New York and immediately looked like he belonged. His first major-league hit was a home run, and he flashed the glove immediately in his debut. As of Saturday morning, Lombard is hitting .292 with a .352 OBP and .790 OPS through his first 48 major-league at-bats.

That's not a finished product. That's the point. Lombard is a kid playing Major League Baseball. There will be errors. There will be bad at-bats. There will eventually be a slump because major-league pitchers have this annoying habit of adjusting to hitters. Then Lombard will have to adjust back. But let me be clear, it will be nothing in comparison to Anthony Volpe. Volpe was not ready and the Yankees forced him down our throats. Lombard? Lombard IS ready.

That's why I don't want to hear the overreaction if Lombard make a mistake. He's going to make rookie mistakes because — breaking news — he's a rookie.   I believed Lombard would eventually grab the spotlight because the athletic ability was obvious. Now we're seeing it.

So, enjoy the kid. Let him play. Let him screw up occasionally. And when he eventually goes 2-for-20 and somebody declares that pitchers have “figured him out,” everybody please remember what we're actually watching. We're not watching Anthony Volpe all over again.

We're watching a 21-year-old legitimate major-league talent learning how to become a major-league star. There is a very big difference.

And right now, George Lombard Jr. looks like he belongs exactly where he is.

LOOK WHO'S CREEPING UP THE AL EAST!

This is getting interesting.

The Yankees beat Toronto 3-1, have now won nine of their last 13, and suddenly they're just three games out of first place in the AL East. Yes, these Yankees. Go figure.

Spencer Jones stayed hot, launching his seventh homer and going deep for the second straight game. Toronto even challenged it after Jones admired his work for a moment. Nice try. Still gone.

Cam Schlittler wasn't exactly cruising, but he battled through traffic and made pitches when he needed them. José Caballero added a sacrifice fly, Brent Headrick escaped a late jam and David Bednar finished it off for save No. 30.

But forget the individual numbers for a second. The Yankees are simply playing good baseball right now — and they're gaining ground.

That's what makes this 10-game homestand so important. They're home, they're hot and first place is suddenly sitting right there within reach. This is the major opportunity. Let's hope Boone doesn't mess this up.

Don't just make the AL East race interesting. Go take the damn thing.

THE YANKEES ARE COOKING!

Well, would you look at that.

The Yankees went into Baltimore and actually handled their business, beating the Orioles 6-1, finishing off the sweep and extending their winning streak to four games. No drama. No bullpen circus. Just a good, clean Yankee win.

Gerrit Cole led the way, and when your ace pitches like an ace, baseball suddenly becomes a lot easier. Cole gave the Yankees six strong innings, allowing one run while striking out eight. He also passed Roger Clemens on the Yankees' all-time strikeout list. Not bad company.

But maybe the best part was that the offense wasn't simply waiting around for Aaron Judge to save everybody.

Luis García Jr. had three hits and blasted his 25th homer. Spencer Jones had three hits and a homer of his own. Heliot Ramos picked up his first RBI as a Yankee, while Ben Rice, José Caballero and Jazz Chisholm Jr. all chipped in. Alittle long ball, alittle small ball. Imagine that—a lineup where everybody participates. What a concept.

And then Ryan Yarbrough came in and slammed the door with three perfect innings. Nine hitters up. Nine hitters down. Thank you very much. Drive safely.

We've beaten this team up plenty when they've deserved it, so they deserve credit when they play like this.

Four straight wins. A sweep. Cole dealing. New Yankees contributing. Young guys producing.

This is what we've been waiting for.

Now don't get cute.

Keep winning.

MAYBE AUSTIN WELLS JUST ISN'T GOOD

At some point, you have to stop calling it a slump.

Austin Wells is hitting .175. He hit .219 last year and .229 the year before that. His career average sits around .213.

Folks, maybe this isn't a season-long slump. Maybe Austin Wells just isn't that good. I know. The framing. The defense. The underlying metrics. The expected numbers. I've heard it all.

Wonderful. Maybe the Yankees can hang a TRYING banner in Monument Park.

Eventually your starting catcher has to hit the baseball. Wells has struggled making consistent contact, his power has disappeared for long stretches, and left-handed pitching has made him look completely overmatched. But my bigger problem isn't Wells.

It's the Yankees scouts. What the hell are these people evaluating? Seriously. Because we're watching the Anthony Volpe disaster unfold at the same time. Another highly touted Yankee prospect. Another player we were told was going to be a cornerstone. Another organization-favorite whose actual major-league production never matched the hype.

At what point does somebody investigate the people making these evaluations?

Because Wells and Volpe aren't 17-year-old lottery tickets anymore. We've seen them against major-league pitching. The results matter. Yet the Yankees continually seem more interested in scouting what a player might become than acknowledging what he's actually become.

That's dangerous. And it's becoming a pattern. Potential. Projections. Exit velocity. Athleticism. Makeup. Upside.

How about hits? Wells has shown occasional stretches where the bat comes alive. Great. But a few hot weeks don't erase years of mediocre offensive production. And apparently Wells does have one elite evaluation skill.

Burritos.  The guy became a social-media hit reviewing breakfast burritos and grading them on a 100-point scale. Maybe the Yankees should put him in the scouting department.

At least Wells appears capable of identifying the difference between an 87-point burrito and a 73-point burrito. I'm increasingly unconvinced Yankee scouts can identify the difference between a legitimate everyday major leaguer and another prospect they're desperately hoping becomes one.

That's the problem. We heard the hype with Volpe. We're hearing the excuses with Wells.

Meanwhile, Yankee fans are supposed to wait patiently while the organization tells us their internal numbers see something our eyes apparently don't.

Enough. Sometimes a slump is a slump.

And sometimes the scouts simply got the player wrong.

Maybe that's Austin Wells. Maybe that's Anthony Volpe. And maybe the Yankees need to stop grading their prospects and start taking a very serious look at the people doing the grading.

YANKS ARE ROLLING. SHOULD WE TRUST IT?

I have to give the Yankees credit. They’re winning. They’re working through the kinks, finding different ways to win baseball games and, dare I say it, actually starting to look like a team instead of nine guys waiting around for somebody to hit a three-run homer.

As I mentioned this morning on BYB, Wednesday night's 5–3 win over Baltimore made it three straight wins, and eight of the nine Yankee starters had a hit. The bullpen picked up Will Warren after he lasted only four innings, and the Yankees found a way to break a 3–3 tie in the eighth.

That's impressive. That's baseball.

And right in the middle of it again was George Lombard Jr.

The kid has elevated this team. I'm not suggesting Lombard suddenly turned the Yankees into the 1998 club. I'm saying his presence has changed the feel of this team. There's energy. There's speed. There's urgency. There's a young player out there who appears to understand that sometimes winning baseball isn't about launching a ball 450 feet.

Sometimes you just have to make something happen. That's exactly what Lombard did Wednesday. With the game tied in the eighth, he chopped a ball and used his speed to beat it out for the go-ahead RBI single. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't majestic.

It was winning baseball. And that's what I love about this kid. Lombard doesn't appear intimidated by the moment. Remember, this is a 21-year-old who was called up barely two weeks ago and homered in his major-league debut. Now we're watching him contribute in meaningful August games.

There's something else happening, too. The Yankees seem to be feeding off that youthful energy. That's important.

Now, naturally, when the Yankees start winning, Aaron Boone looks pretty good. Funny how that works.

When everybody hits, the bullpen gets outs, the kids make plays and the Yankees string together victories, the manager suddenly looks like he's pushing all the right buttons. But I've always believed something about managers:

You don't learn much about them when everything is working. You learn about them when everything stops working. When the lineup goes cold. When the bullpen gets shaky. When you've lost three straight and tomorrow night's game suddenly feels enormous.

That's when managing matters. That's when you need somebody capable of changing the temperature in the room, making the difficult decision, sitting the wrong player, riding the right one and recognizing trouble before it becomes a five-game losing streak.

That's where my concern with Boone remains. Because September is coming. The pressure is going to increase. Every game gets heavier. Every mistake gets magnified. And eventually this team is going to hit another rough patch. Every team does.

So, I say it clearly... enjoy this. I certainly am.

Give the Yankees credit for grinding through the problems and starting to play better baseball. And give George Lombard Jr. a huge amount of credit, because the kid has brought something this team desperately needed.

Energy.

Instinct.

Fearlessness.

But here's the question I can't shake:

What happens when the Yankees stop making Aaron Boone look good? Because eventually Boone may have to make the Yankees look good. And are you as frightened as I am that we're going to find out sometime in September?