Giancarlo Stanton said his rehab from the left biceps strain that has sidelined him since April 1 is “on track,’’ but he doesn’t know when he’ll be able to return. The Yankees outfielder feels the injury “a little bit,’’ he said, but attributed that to normal soreness. Stanton took swings Saturday for a second time since suffering the injury, though he has yet to swing at 100 percent. That’s the next step in his comeback, and it depends on how long that takes before Stanton will know if he needs a rehab game. “At this point, I wouldn’t need one,’’ said Stanton, who has already missed nearly two weeks after suffering the injury in just his third game of the season. “But if I’m out three or four weeks, I probably should.’’ Stanton’s is one of a litany of injuries that have derailed the early part of the Yankees’ season. He’s one of 12 Yankees to have seen time on the injured list so far this season, though CC Sabathia was reinstated before Saturday’s 4-0 win over the White Sox. Last year, Stanton played with a hamstring injury for much of the latter part of the season. “We had some of this last year, and I really enjoyed the grind of trying to stay out there during those hard times,’’ Stanton said of the Yankees’ injury issues. “Now I’m on the opposite side of that. I’ll do my best to get back as soon as possible.’’ Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman looked sharp in their outings in Saturday’s 4-0 win, but that doesn’t mean all is well with the bullpen. Chad Green didn’t pitch in the victory, and the Yankees still need to get the right-hander on track. Green allowed solo homers to two of the three batters he faced in Friday night’s rain-shortened defeat and has given up seven runs in just 5 ¹/₃ innings this season. Before the game, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Green was “working through a little mechanical adjustment” and that he was encouraged by what he saw to open Green’s outing Friday, when he got Yoan Moncada to fly to left. “He worked the top of the zone,’’ Boone said. That may be true, but Green has been shaky at best in all but one of six appearances. His pitches have tailed back over the plate instead of having their usual “cut and drive,” according to Boone. The Yankees are trying to get Green back to a spot where he can pitch multiple innings, as he did regularly with much success in 2017. For now, though, Green is allowing baserunners and runs at a breakneck pace. The red-hot DJ LeMahieu hit third for just the second time in his career Saturday, and with his third-inning single extended his consecutive-hit streak to six at-bats. He also walked in the first. The streak ended with a flyout to center in the sixth. Luke Voit wasn’t in the starting lineup, leaving Gleyber Torres and Aaron Judge as the only Yankees to start every game. Voit still had a key hit in the victory — a pinch single in the seventh to drive in the Yankees’ first run.<doc-sep>NEW YORK — Yankees manager Aaron Boone’s pre-game presser Friday was dominated with injury talk. What else is new? The Yankees’ IL list added a 12th player in the afternoon with catcher Gary Sanchez joining with a calf left strain, and more bad news was passed along that reliever Dellin Betances had suffered a setback rehabbing his way back from a spring shoulder impingement. Boone did have some encouraging updates to share: Besides lefty starter CC Sabathia coming off the IL on Saturday to make his season debut in a 1:05 matinee, outfielder/DH Giancarlo Stanton and center fielder Aaron Hicks are making progress in their recoveries. Sidelined since April 1 with a left biceps strain, Stanton hit both off a tee and soft tosses at Yankee Stadium on Friday afternoon. In Tampa, Hicks has been fully recovered from a sore back for about two weeks, and on Friday “threw and ran on a treadmill," Boone said before his club’s 9-6 rain-shortened, seven-inning loss to the Chicago White Sox Stanton probably will be back a couple weeks before Hicks. “He keeps bouncing back,” Boone said. “There's a chance he could be back sooner rather than later.” How soon? The Yankees don’t know. The guess is that Stanton isn’t far off from taking batting practice, and after a few days of that, he could get a simulated game or play in a rehab game, then come off the IL. “We haven't gotten there yet,” Boone said. “There’s maybe a chance no (rehab game). It could be a game. We haven't really had those conversations yet. He's done pretty good on the rehab. The tee work he did Wednesday in Houston went well. More tee and toss (Friday).” As for Hicks, he’s probably two weeks away from getting into rehab games, then he’ll probably spend one or two weeks in the minors getting enough at-bats to get him ready for big-league pitching. “Aaron is a guy that is going to have to obviously play in games and get built up,” Boone said. “He'll be a little while longer (than Stanton).” Hicks has been sidelined with a lower back strain since playing in a Grapefruit League game on March 1. “Hicks, as far as timeline, he's doing really well,” Boone said. “I feel like for a couple of weeks now he's been through the injury and through any issues, but because it took a while, the process of building him back up has been a little slower and conservative as far as making sure legs, core, all those things are really stable and strong. "Hopefully once we get through the weekend, this next week he’s on the field doing everything. Then we’ll start introducing him to live pitching in games and things like that. Whether that’s a couple of weeks (before he’s in rehab games), I don’t know. All I know is, he’s definitely moving now for a couple of weeks in the right direction.” Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.<doc-sep>HOUSTON — Before the Yankees’ terrible 6-3 loss to the Astros at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday night, manager Aaron Boone gave fans reason to hope that brighter days might not be too far in the future. Boone provided injury updates on two key players: third baseman Miguel Andujar and designated hitter/left fielder Giancarlo Stanton. Latest on Andujar Andujar will play catch for the first time since going on the injured list with a partial tear in his right shoulder labrum April 1. The 24-year-old hurt himself diving back to third base. “Hopefully it's a big step for him,” Boone said. “I think that potentially tells us a lot in how he's able to respond to that. I don't think they're going to stress him out too much tomorrow but hopefully we get some encouraging news when he does go through that initial stretch of playing catch.” Said Andujar, ““Much better since the day I got injured,” Andujar said, referring to his shoulder, via the team’s Spanish translator Marlon Abreu. “I am working hard and doing all the rehab work to make sure the shoulder is strong. I am following all the protocol and following every single step, but we have to wait to see how it feels going through the whole process.” Latest on Stanton Stanton might hit off a tee either Wednesday or Friday, Boone said. The Yankees are off Thursday. He played catch Tuesday and has been on the IL since April 1 with a left biceps strain. Brendan Kuty may be reached at bkuty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.<doc-sep>“We went through this last year and I really enjoyed the grind of trying to stay out there during those hard times,” Stanton said before Saturday’s 4-0 win over the White Sox. “But now I’m on the opposite side of that. So I just have to support (my teammates) and do my best to get back.”<doc-sep>
NEW YORK — Sitting out games while the Yankees have been doing a lot of losing has made the last two weeks excruciating for Giancarlo Stanton, who joined his club’s very lengthy injured list on April 1. HIs issue is a strained left biceps, and the slugging designated hitter/outfielder has improved to the point that he’s been taking swings since the middle of last week. He started last Wednesday in Houston by taking dry swings, then he hit soft tosses and off a tee before Friday and Saturday’s games. “I think I’m on track,” Stanton said Saturday before the Yankees’ 4-0 win over the Chicago White Sox at Yankee Stadium. “Good progress swings.” That’s encouraging. The not-so-great news is the 6-8 Yankees need Stanton right away in the worst way, and he’ll probably be on the injured list at least another two weeks. Although Stanton is feeling up to swinging, he’s still not swinging full strength and he’s still feeling “a little bit” of discomfort. Stanton wants to get back as soon as he can, but he’s going to be cautious about this so this biceps issue doesn’t turn out like catcher Gary Sanchez’s right groin strain last season. Remember that? Sanchez went on the injured list on June 25, returned too soon on July 19, then was back on the IL by July 24 and sidelined again until Sept. 1. Thus the fear of not letting his biceps fully heal has Stanton scared straight. That’s why he’s not swinging hard yet. “It’s my second day (hitting soft tosses and off a tee), I’m not about to just go out there and mess it up again,” he said. “It’s a process.” His next steps? “Hundred percent swings in the cage and then BP,” Stanton said. Stanton is frustrated. The Yankees haven’t been playing much good baseball and still have 11 players on the IL, not counting pitcher CC Sabathia, who returned to start Saturday’s game. Stanton was the Yankees’ most durable player last season, as he appeared in a team-high 158 games and started 84 in a row from May 28 to Sept. 1. “We went through this last year and I really enjoyed the grind of trying to stay out there during those hard times,” Stanton said. “But now I’m on the opposite side of that. Just support and do my best to get back.” Before coming off the IL, Stanton is thinking he may need a rehab game or two even though manager Aaron Boone on Friday guessed one may not be needed. “Just depends on how long it’s going to take me to get full swings in there,” Stanton said. “At this point still, I (don’t) need one, but it just depends how far out I am too. If I’m three-four weeks out of the game, then I probably should. But it just depends on the situation.” Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.