The Tuesday Discussion: For Whom To DH?

February 18, 2025

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This week we posed the following to our writers:

With Giancarlo Stanton being injured (again), what should the Yankees do about the DH spot?

Here are their replies:

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Ed Botti - I would like to see the DH spot filled in the manner in which I have always wanted it to be filled full time.

A Rotation each night, giving a half day off to certain players.

They can rotate the DH between Judge, Wells, and Goldschmidt and even give Bellinger and Jazz a blow once a week.

I do not think they need to go out an acquire a DH as those players are usually older & injury prone players just like Giancarlo.

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Lincoln Mitchell - The fact that you have to ask this question reflects so much of what is wrong with the Yankees. I like Giancarlo Stanton. He is an exciting player who often shows up big in the clutch. Moreover, he seems like a decent guy who does what he can to help the team. However, when I think of Stanton words like consistent or injury-free do not come to mind. In other words, Stanton missing time due to injury is a constant not a variable.The Yankees being totally unprepared for this speaks to their ongoing management problems. I suspect that Ben Rice and Trent Grisham will get a lot of this playing time and that is not good.

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Paul Semendinger - Well, now they need a hitter and a third baseman. Amazing how that happens. As I have said, for years, the Yankees are no proactive, they are reactive. Anyone could have seen that Stanton would get hurt. He misses a ton of time. The fact that the Yankees have no real answer is yet another example of how poorly they are run.

Get Nolan Arenado. he, at least solves one problem.

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Andrew Hefner - I want Oswaldo in the lineup! He showed signs of being a real threat early on in the season last year, however, his biggest strength is defense. I would like to put Oswaldo in LF as he played sporadically the last few seasons and put Dominguez, who struggled defensively in his limited time up last year, in the DH spot. Oswaldo needs the playing time to really progress and this could be a good chance for him just as the first few series of last season were. 

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Cary Greene - The Yankees should rotate Ben Rice, Aaron Judge and others as they use the DH position to keep everyday players fresh while getting stronger defenders into more games. It may be a way to get guys like Rice some extra at bats while also flexing Trent Grisham into CF more regularly. 

Wasn't Stanton's injury pretty much predictable?? Yet Cashman did nothing due to Steinbrenner's firm limit on spending "up to but not beyond" the CBT. The mere presence of Stanton on the roster has clogged the Yankees DH position for years and considering he can't play the field, this issue has been holding back the Yankees production pretty significantly. 

At one point, I envisioned Kyle Schwarber as being an ideal DH with the Yankees. Last season, Schwarber had an .851 OPS as a DH - to go along with 104 RBI's and 38 dingers. Compare that to Stanton's .773 OPS/72 RBI/27 HR campaign last season and there is little doubt that Schwarber would have been a great play save for a few problems that made it impossible for Cashman to go after Schwarber -- namely Steinbrenneromics and Stanton's contract. 

With Hal Steinbrenner's unwillingness to do what is necessary to add key bats over the years combined with Stanton clogging the Yankees DH artery, there just hasn't been any room on the roster to add a lefty masher/DH to complement Judge. Last season, Juan Soto was everything and more that Cashman thought Giancarlo Stanton would be back in the 2017-18 offseason when he traded for him. Imagine, a left handed hitting masher who could masquerade well enough as an outfielder? Well, that's what Soto is (and Schwarb-ah isn't). 

It's far too late in the offseason to get a Joc Pederson for $18.5 mil to offset the usual Stanton injury issues. Time to rotate through the DH position and get Mr Rice some extra at-bats! Nuff Said!

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Mike Whiteman - I think covering the Designated Hitter position in the short term is best done internally, and hopefully someone like Ben Rice or Everson Pereira steps up and forces himself into the lineup. 

The Stanton injury and uncertainty at DH reinforces the need to aggressively address third base, and build a lineup with depth.