CHICAGO -- New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone is confident he'll get his injured stars back before the end of the season even while the front office tries to improve his team before Monday's trade deadline.
"The one thing we've done to this point, four months in, is we've given ourselves a chance to go be that team," Boone said before Wednesday night's 12-inning 6-5 loss to the Chicago White Sox. "But there is a long way to go still. There's a lot of things that we still have to navigate and hopefully it gets to where we are playing in October and we're at our best. But it really is still a long way to go, and there's twists and turns that you can't account for."
Boone still doesn't have return dates for Aaron Judge (rib) or Giancarlo Stanton (calf). The team is also playing without All-Star Cody Bellinger, who went on the IL over the weekend with a hamstring injury.
The Yankees' skipper was asked if the front office is working on deals with those injuries in mind or with the perception that those players will all return.
"I think we expect those guys back," Boone said. "[The front office executives] know what they're doing. I've been doing this for a long time. They have a lot of lines in the water, and you're seeing ultimately if there's a potential match that can improve you incrementally or in some cases if that big deal comes about, so be it."
The Yankees are in search of help at catcher, the bullpen and another bat, according to league sources. Most of their efforts to improve the team are separate from the situation with their injured players. If they all come back -- and the Yankees add on -- there's room for everyone.
"It's impossible to know right now ultimately what you're going to do," Boone said. "Sometimes you're trying to fill ... holes or weaknesses. Sometimes you're not able to do that because you don't match up so you go and hammer a strength. There's been years we've done that.
"Even though we're only five days away, I'm sure there's still so much to go down over the next few days. It feels like there's a ton of teams in that middle ground that you don't know yet. So I'm sure it'll start to crystallize a little bit in a few days."
The Yankees have survived and sometimes thrived without their walking wounded. Case in point is their current series against the White Sox. After losing a game to the Phillies on Sunday night, they arrived late to Chicago on Monday morning, got down 3-0 in the first inning and stormed back to win 9-5.
They followed up that game with 8â…” innings of shutout baseball before winning 3-2 Tuesday.
Injuries have not slowed them down much.
"I think we have a chance to be a really great club," Boone said.
Boone said he speaks with the front office about the trade deadline on a daily basis, adding his "thought bubbles" whenever necessary. He was asked what those bubbles entail.
"Do you want me to read [them]?" Boone joked as he started to pull out his phone. "I throw in my two cents there and there ... just on certain players."
The Yankees' cause would be greatly improved by the return of Judge and Stanton. Boone didn't have a date for Judge to be reevaluated and indicated Stanton is still in light running mode.
"It just needs to get to a level intensity wise with the running," he said. "He's running. When it gets really close to being a game or something, we'll let you know. It's not there yet."
