About Spring Training: Goodbye, Mr. Chips

About Spring Training: Goodbye, Mr. Chips

by Tim Kabel

February 27, 2026

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The Yankees are playing games in Spring Training. The regular season opens on March 25th, which is less than a month away. So far, there are a few noteworthy developments regarding the Yankees.

Cam Schlittler was dealing with mid-back and left lat soreness at the beginning of camp but threw 25 pitches of live batting practice on Wednesday. Assuming he has no ill effects from that, he should be on target to begin the season in the starting rotation. He might not be able to throw as many pitches in the first game or two as everyone else, but that is much better than not being available at all. The best part about the soreness and discomfort is that it was not in his pitching arm.

The Yankees signed Randal Grichuk to a minor league contract. He will report to Spring Training and compete for a roster spot. Grichuk, who is 34 years old, is a right-handed hitting outfielder. Although he hit only .227 last year with the Diamondbacks and Royals, He did bat.319 with a 913 OPS against left handers in 2024 with the Diamondbacks. If Grichuk makes the team, it is highly likely that Jasson Dominguez and Spencer Jones will be playing in Scranton, at least at the beginning of the season.

Ryan Weathers made his Yankees debut on Wednesday, pitching 3.2 innings against the Nationals. He allowed no runs and one hit while striking out five and walking none. That was very impressive. Hopefully, he can continue on that path and avoid the injuries that have plagued him in the past.

Now, to the big news. I'm going to put all my chips on the table, so to speak. Recently, Aaron Boone stated the following regarding Giancarlo Stanton and his ability to play in Spring Training and at the beginning of the year. Boone described him as a “full go”. I don't know what full go means to you, but to me it means that Stanton is ready to begin playing with no restrictions or something close to that. Now it comes out that Stanton is still deeply affected by the tennis elbow he has in both arms and that caused him to play only 77 games in 2025. According to Stanton, “I can't open a bottle.” To further clarify, he stated, “I can't open a bag of chips or a bag of anything. That's the way it is.” Stanton has not appeared in any Spring Training games yet and is clearly limited by his arm injuries.

It is utterly amazing, yet not surprising at all, that Aaron Boone would describe Stanton as being “full go”. If Aaron Boone were to tell me that it was a bright and sunny day out, I would immediately look out the window. I could just hear him explaining the current situation: “Well, you know, how often will Stanton have to open a bag of chips during a game? That rarely happens. I really don't think it's a big deal and it shouldn't really limit his play. We could have someone else open his chips and soda for him.”

I have somewhat of a strange mind and a warped sense of humor. When I listen to Aaron Boone spout the inanities that come out of his mouth on a consistent and ongoing basis, I often imagine him doing it in the voice of the late western actor, Andy Devine. It would fit perfectly. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Andy Devine, look him up and you'll see what I mean.

We have been down this road before and I'm sure we will be treated to several more days of Boone offering platitudes, excuses, and rationales as to why Stanton needs to sit out for a little while. All along, he will tell us that Stanton is getting close. Meanwhile, we probably won't see Stanton in an actual game for quite some time. Boone will probably walk around with a bag of salt and vinegar potato chips to test him just to be sure.

It gets better. Despite the fact that Stanton has only played one full season since joining the Yankees and that one was back in 2018, Aaron Boone described Stanton as “a poster child for mental toughness”. It's not often that you hear a 36-year-old man referred to as a poster child but that's beside the point. It also fits perfectly with the way Boone sees things. I'm not suggesting that Stanton is a malingerer. However, he was never a threat to break the records for consecutive games played by Cal Ripken or Lou Gehrig. He seemed satisfied with breaking the consecutive games played record by any of the players who were featured in “The Least Among Them”, the excellent book written by Doctor Semendinger.

I'm not sure if Aaron Boone is simply completely unaware of what he is saying and how ridiculous it is, or if he believes that Yankees fans are morons who will simply swallow whatever pablum he is feeding them, or that he really doesn't care what they think. It may be a mixture of all those things.

So, Giancarlo Stanton, who is reportedly all set to go for the season, can't even open a bag of potato chips. That does not bode well for him playing a lot of games in 2026. While Aaron Boone may be prepared to let the chips fall where they may, it is hard to do that if you can't even open the bag of chips. Here we go again down the path of dysfunction and disinformation that has become the norm in the Yankees universe over the past several years.