"It's not good for Yankees" - Justin Verlander's brother questions Giancarlo Stanton’s offseason habits after double tennis elbow injury

The New York Yankees are sweating over the availability of All-Star slugger Giancarlo Stanton ahead of the 2025 season. The 2024 ALCS MVP reportedly left the Yankees' Spring Training camp due to a tennis elbow injury.

Giancarlo Stanton reportedly didn't take part in hitting activities after joining the camp earlier this month. The former NL MVP cited the elbow issue that troubled him last year as the reason. Stanton left the Yankees camp on Monday, to seek medical attention in New York, per reports.

Baseball analyst and veteran ace Justin Verlander's brother, Ben, questioned the injury to the five-time All-Star. He said (11:47 onwards):

"Tennis elbow in both elbows. How does that happen? It was the offseason. I like Giancarlo Stanton, his work ethic, and the way he goes about things, I like all of it, but what are we doing in the offseason to get tennis elbow in both elbows? I don't know, but not good for the Yankees and we'll see how much time he's gonna miss. Is he gonna miss a little bit of Spring Training?

"Is he going to miss a little bit of the season? Is he going to miss a lot of this season? We don't know yet, but the track record with Giancarlo Stanton doesn't leave much room for optimism of coming back quickly and hopping right back in that lineup and being a force in the four-hole behind Aaron Judge or Cody Bellinger or whatever they do."

While Stanton left the camp on Monday, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said it was due to personal reasons and not his injury, without any other update on the veteran slugger.

“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,” Aaron Boone said on Monday.

Aaron Judge hints at potential return timeline for Giancarlo Stanton

Last week, Giancarlo Stanton's Yankees teammate Aaron Judge spoke about the former MVP's injury. The two-time MVP hinted at Stanton missing the start of the season for the Bronx Bombers.

“We’ll see what the doctors say about what’s going on,” Judge said. “I’ve been checking with him every day, talking to him. We went out to dinner. He’s got a positive mindset with everything. … He has some downtime right now, just to get things right. I want a healthy G in the middle of the season.”

It's unlikely the Yankees will try to push Giancarlo Stanton's return for Grapefruit League games. Aaron Boone is unlikely to rush Stanton back for the Opening Day fixture either as the veteran DH player a crucial role in the Yankees' postseason last year. H could have a big say in the latter part of the season this year as well.