Big Yankees’ surprises for playoff roster? Here’s our bold predictions
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NEW YORK — Giancarlo Stanton and Trent Grisham were out on the field Thursday afternoon for early batting practice before the Yankees’ active players hit. Taking turns hitting off a high-velocity pitching machine, Stanton drove some balls to the gap and hit a few balls out while Grisham hit some ropes.
Both looked healthy.
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Grisham hasn’t played for three weeks due to a right hamstring strain and Stanton has been sidelined since April 24 with right and left calf strains.
Both want to be on the Wild Card Series roster and Game 1 for this Yankees-Red Sox best-of-three is Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.
Manager Aaron Boone has been saying Grisham and Stanton are trending in the right direction, so they are candidates to be part of a 26-man roster that will carry 14 or 15 position players.
What about Aaron Judge? Will he get his way and return from his calf strain weeks before his MRI results indicate he should be back?
The Yankees have a lot to figure out over the weekend and during Monday’s workout day.
Here’s what we know and what we think in regards to how the roster could shake out:
AARON JUDGEJudge isn’t a real-life Superman. The Yankees captain is big and strong, but he can’t fly and he’s not blessed with X-ray vision.
Judge also doesn’t have any special healing powers. He has a moderate right calf sprain. That’s a Grade 2, a partial tear that should take six to eight weeks to recover.
Judge says he’s feeling great and is willing to risk a complete tear by returning next week. That would be a six-month recovery.
Admire his determination, but he’s not healthy and not ready to hit good pitching in playoff baseball. He hasn’t even been cleared to swing a bat or run.
Judge wasn’t ready earlier this month when he rushed back from his fractured rib. He missed 84 games and was back playing less than three weeks after being cleared to hit, run and throw — without playing any rehab games. That’s what he wanted and everyone let him get his way because it was late in the season.
Prediction: Judge returns Oct. 12 for Game 1 of the ALCS, if the Yankees get there.
TRENT GRISHAMThe Yankees want to be sure Grisham is ready to come off the IL because he’s been sidelined since Sept. 5 after being out with the same injury from June 13 to July 3, right hamstring strain.
I spoke to Grisham in front of the Yankees dugout after his BP session Thursday and he told me, “I’m ready to go.”
I asked if he expected to be on the Wild Card Series roster.
“Expectations are a funny thing,” he responded. “By Friday I would say I will be fully ready to be back and available to play.”
Boone hinted Thursday that roster moves are coming this weekend and by night’s end two spots opened. After rookie shortstop George Lombard Jr. hit a tiebreaking eighth-inning homer to lift the Yankees to a 6-4 comeback win over the Rays, relievers Luis Gil and Bradley Hanner were optioned.
With Saturday’s game moved to Friday as part of a doubleheader due to incoming rain, the Yankees called up Brendan Beck to start Game 1 and reliever Yerry de los Santos.
I can see the Yankees activating Grisham between games of Friday’s doubleheader and starting him in center field in Game 2. That would give the Yankees a chance to see how he’s moving around and get him some at-bats before having to make a final call on a postseason roster decision.
If Grisham is on the roster, he’d give them a fourth outfielder. If not, super-utility player Jose Caballero would be the extra outfielder and he’ll probably be starting at third base when the Red Sox deploy their left-handed starters, Payton Tolle and Ranger Suarez.
Grisham’s postseason role could be starting against right-handed pitching with rookie Spencer Jones in right field. Against lefties, the Yankees likely would go with Jones in center and Heliot Ramas in right.
Prediction: Grisham is on Wild Card Series roster.
GIANCARLO STANTONStanton has been hitting off and on since he went on the IL more than five months ago and he’s been running for a couple weeks. He also started running the bases this week and he homered off a minor-leaguer in a live BP this week. Before Friday’s game he hit again in a live BP.
Intrigued?
Well, he can’t play the outfield and Ben Rice is the DH, so if he’s on the roster, he’s there as a pinch-hitter.
Also, he strained his right calf all those months ago jogging from first base to second base on a walk and he strained his left calf in August falling down while running the bases during a workout.
Yes, Stanton’s postseason resume is impressive, but he hit .192 with no homers in 30 plate appearances last October.
This could come down to the Yankees picking between Rosario and Stanton for the last bench spot if they keep 14 position players.
Who would they prefer batting for Austin Wells or Jazz Chisholm to face a left-hander in a big spot?
Rosario hasn’t hit lefties this season, but he has a .287 career average against them. Also, he’s hit .325 in 91 career pinch-hit at-bats.
Stanton is a career .194 hitter with two homers in 68 pinch-hit at-bats, and that’s from when he was healthy and presumably not rusty.
Prediction: Stanton is left off roster.
CLARKE SCHMIDTWhat a sad saga this has become.
Schmidt worked all season to get back from his July 2025 Tommy John surgery. He returned in September as a reliever and had a good first outing on Sept. 16 in Minnesota, two strikeouts and two soft-contact singles in two-thirds of an inning. Then he warmed up to come into a game four days later and felt a cramp in his biceps.
By Thursday, Schmidt was back on the IL with right biceps neuritis and probably done for the season.
“I don’t want to speak too soon on that just in case we’re a couple weeks from now, but my understanding is he’s going to be shut down,” Boone said. “The diagnosis is pretty good. It is something that he should be fine with, but obviously the calendar just prevented him from getting ramped up to where he needed to be.”
Prediction: Schmidt is out until 2027.
RYAN WEATHERSThe Yankees have been hoping the rehabbing lefty starter would be back off the IL this week, but that’s not going to happen.
They did, however, move up Weathers throwing a live BP from next week to Friday, so he could be a Wild Card Series option.
Weathers has been on the IL since Aug. 22 with a left forearm flexor strain.
“I’m feeling great,” Weathers said Wednesday. “I’ve got to check some more boxes.”
One was checked Friday, but his command wasn’t check.
Prediction: Weathers returns for Division Series against Rays, if the Yankees advance.
CARLOS LAGRANGELagrange supposedly was in the mix for a postseason bullpen spot on Wednesday even though he’s never spent a day in the big leagues. A day later, the hard-throwing 6-foot-7 right-hander pretty much was ruled out for the entire postseason.
What changed?
“He threw a live yesterday,” Boone said Thursday. “He hasn’t pitched in a while. He’s just starting to throw lives again, so not really an option just because he needs days in-between now as he’s building up. As we move forward, we’ll see. But not yet.”
Let’s unpack that.
Lagrange came off the Triple-A injured list last week after being sidelined for more than two months with a right shoulder capsular sprain, but he pitched an inning for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Sept. 16. He looked good allowing one hit with two strikeouts and his fastball touching 102 mph.
His future still probably is as a starter, but why does he need to build up his pitch count to get four or five outs tops in a postseason game?
Just a guess: Lagrange must not have impressed the Yankees when he faced minor leaguers in his Wednesday live BP at the Somerset Patriots’ ballpark.
Regardless, the Yankees could have pushed back Lagrange’s live by a day, then given him a first call-up Thursday to take Schmidt’s roster spot. If the Yankees had done that, Lagrange perhaps could have got his feet wet in the big leagues this weekend and possibly pitch his way into serious Wild Card Series roster consideration.
That’s out, and coming up to debut in a later round is unlikely, too.
That’s only happened twice and one is a current Yankee. Weathers’ first game was for the Padres in Game 1 of an NLDS in 2020. The other time was against the Yankees when Rays left-hander Shane McClanahan made his debut in Game 1 of the 2020 ALDS.
“If it gets to that point (for Lagrange), we’re probably in a bad spot where some guys have gone down and he’s the next choice,” Blake said. “But he certainly put his name in the mix.”
Too bad, it would be a fascinating postseason storyline.
As hard as Lagrange throws, maybe he could have been another K-Rod. Who knows, maybe he’d blow away hitters like Francisco Rodriguez did as a rookie reliever in October 2002 during the Angels’ World Series championship run.
Prediction: Lagrange’s major-league debut is held off until 2027.
GAME 1 STARTERThis is interesting because the Yankees are considering going with someone other than Cam Schlittler, whose three-inning postseason tuneup Thursday ended his regular season with an AL best 1.95 ERA. He’s going to win the Cy Young and it might be unanimous.
Boone said this week that Gerrit Cole or Schlittler probably would get the nod and that the order did not matter. Whether Schlittler started Game 1 and Game 2, he’d be lined up for Game 2 and Game 5 of a potential best-of-five Division Series against the Rays.
Blake put a different spin on this Thursday. He said the Yankees were leaning on going with Max Fried and Schlittler in some order for the first two games against the Red Sox, then picking between Carlos Rodon and Cole if there’s a Game 3 with one of them possibly available for a relief outing.
“Max is on extended rest and Cam would be on his third five days in a row, so just making sure he’s in a good spot before we make any rash decisions,” Blake said. “Obviously, (Schlittler’s) earned the right to pitch Game 1. We’re taking inventory of where all of our starters are to give us the best chance in a three-game series.”
Prediction: Schlittler starts Game 1.
BENCH PLAYERS
Look for the Yankees to keep 15 position players and 11 pitchers.
That would give them a five-man bench of Paul Goldschmidt, Ali Sanchez, Amed Rosario, Anthony Volpe, Ryan McMahon or Caballero plus Grisham.
As mentioned above, it’s a no for Stanton.
Prediction: No surprises.
BULLPENIf the Yankees keep only 11 pitchers, they’ll keep their three Wild Card Series starters, probably their fourth ace for a potential crisis plus No. 5 starter Will Warren for a long or middle relief role.
That’s five.
David Bednar, Paul Blackburn and Brent Headrick make it eight. John Schweiber will make the cut, as well, leaving two spots for Tim Hill, Michael Fulmer and Ryan Yarbrough.
Rookie right-hander Elmer Rodriguez probably will be called up again Friday to start one of the doubleheader games, but he’s never pitched in relief and wouldn’t be rested for a Wild Card Series outing.
Prediction: Fulmer and Hill get spots with Yarbrough the odd-man out.
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