When Giancarlo Stanton hurt his right calf while jogging to second base on a walk on April 24, the Yankees held out hope that he would avoid the injured list.

“We’ll be smart about it,” Aaron Boone said at the time. “G knows that we don’t want this to turn into a long-term situation, so we’ll proceed accordingly.”

Of course, Stanton did go on the IL with a calf strain, and then he remained there with another. And another. With two separate strains to his right side and then one to his left side, the designated hitter missed more than five months in 2026.

Stanton, able to hit throughout the year but challenged by his running progressions, did make it back for the playoffs. But he struck out in two pinch-hit at-bats during the ALDS.

“It’s obviously been a really tough year for G on the injury front, and I just give him a ton of credit because after this last setback a month ago, he probably could have just taken his ball and gone home,” Boone said after Stanton was rostered for the Wild Card Series. “And he’s never stopped. Even through the frustration of having a couple of different setbacks, he’s never stopped working and trying to, if he can, be some kind of option.”

The question now is whether Stanton will remain an option for the Yankees, as his future with the team is murky.

Plagued by lower-body injuries throughout his pinstriped career — he also has lingering tennis elbows — Stanton is going to turn 37 next month. No longer able to play the field, he doesn’t have a clear fit on a Yankees roster that also has Ben Rice and Luis García Jr., two guys who only played first and DH’d for the Yankees last season. Aaron Judge, fresh off his own injury-riddled campaign, would benefit from more DH days in his age-35 season, too.

Stanton has also reached a point in his contract — a massive 13-year, $325 million pact signed with the Marlins in 2014 — where the Yankees could be comfortable moving on.

The 2017 National League MVP is owed $25 million next season, but Miami will pay $10 million toward that sum. Stanton also has a $25 million club option or a $10 million buyout for 2028. Once again, the Marlins are on the hook for $10 million in 2028.

That means parting with Stanton now would only cost the Yankees $15 million.

They’ve taken on more dead money in the recent past. Two summers ago, the Bombers owed DJ LeMahieu about $22 million when they released him. Aaron Hicks still had about $27 million coming his way when the Yankees cut bait in May 2023. And Jacoby Ellsbury was due $26 million when he got his pink slip in November 2019.

But LeMahieu, Hicks and Josh Donaldson, who was owed much less money at the time of his release in August 2023, were given opportunities to get healthy and/or show that they could remain productive prior to their departures. That didn’t work out well each time, but all got some runway before becoming midseason cuts.

It would be somewhat surprising if the well-respected Stanton, a potential Hall of Famer and the Yankees’ unofficial co-captain alongside Judge, wasn’t afforded the same opportunity.

The Yanks don’t have much to lose in that scenario anyway. They’ll have to pay Stanton regardless, so they might as well see if he or others have a healthy spring training, or if he has anything left in the tank.

Stanton, 44 homers shy of 500 for his career, wasn’t overly productive in the 24 games he played in at the start of the season, hitting three longballs with a .724 OPS. He did go on a tear, however, after returning from his elbow injuries in 2025, crushing 24 dingers with a .944 OPS in just 77 games.

Stanton did suffer dips in his Hard-Hit%, Barrel% and bat speed in 2026, but the sample size was incredibly limited.

Stanton is not the only potential source of dead money currently on the Yankees’ roster, as Ryan McMahon is owed $16 million next year. The Yankees could move on from the third baseman, who regressed defensively while remaining a below average hitter in 2026.