Giancarlo Stanton has played just three games this season, sidelined first with a left biceps strain, followed by a strained left shoulder and finally a strained left calf suffered during a very brief rehab assignment last month.
He is scheduled to begin another rehab assignment Tuesday, serving as the DH for Single-A Tampa.
Stanton would then play right field on Wednesday. If all goes well, he would join Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Friday.
General manager Brian Cashman said on WFAN that Stanton could return to the Yankees by the time they host the Rays on Monday.
The Yankees’ other injured outfield star, Aaron Judge, is also making progress, according to Aaron Boone.
The manager said Judge could begin a rehab assignment “… by the weekend. We’ll see how this week unfolds. He continues to move in a really good direction.”
Cashman confirmed in a text that Judge could begin playing in games by Friday and the team has not ruled out the right fielder being active for its games against the Red Sox in London at the end of the month.
Dellin Betances will get an MRI exam on his right shoulder Tuesday and Boone said the right-hander is “still a little sore” after it appeared he was closing in on a return from the shoulder impingement that has sidelined him all season.
Boone added there could be an issue with Betances’ lat area and that will be among the issues checked out when he is examined.
“We’re going to make sure we isolate the spot as best we can to see if there’s anything going on in there,’’ Boone said.
The news seemed more promising with Domingo German after he was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left hip flexor strain. He was examined by team physician Chris Ahmad on Monday and will get a cortisone shot Tuesday.
“The imaging looked pretty good,” Boone said. “He probably won’t go on the trip with us [to Chicago].”
But Boone sounded upbeat that German won’t be out long and will likely continue throwing while he’s out.
Boone said the Yankees would need a fifth starter Saturday against the White Sox and listed Chance Adams or David Hale as possibilities, as well as an opener.
The fifth starter won’t be Dallas Keuchel, who signed with Atlanta last week — despite interest from the Yankees, which Cashman confirmed Monday.
“We made an offer we were comfortable with and that was it,” Cashman said on WFAN. “Atlanta made a higher one.”
Cashman pointed to the added penalties the Yankees would have faced if they reach the next luxury-tax level and said he had “started conversations’’ with other teams about what might be available on the trade market, acknowledging they will need some help in that area.
