Aaron Boone explains Cody Bellinger's injury timeline, thoughts on Yankees entering MLB trade deadline

After the Yankees placed left fielder Cody Bellinger on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain Sunday, manager Aaron Boone shared the severity and return time frame.

“Grade 2 strain, so probably a 4-to-6-week situation,” Boone said before Monday’s game opened a three-game series at the Chicago White Sox. “The good thing is he’s obviously able to move around right now, so we’ll continue to do that and just allow this thing to heal and get him right.”

Bellinger is slashing .259/.350/.420 with 11 home runs and 53 RBI in 102 games this season.

“Obviously we’ve had some tough, tough injuries to some really important people,” Boone said. “But again, that is part of it. And as I said, the season waits for no one. It creates an opportunity, legitimately does, for one or more people to go plug that hole — to develop, to grow — and we feel very much that we have capable people out there, capable guys who are capable of going out there and performing at a high level. We’ve got to weather that storm, and confident we can do that.”

With the MLB trade deadline set for next Monday at 6 p.m., does Boone expect Bellinger’s status to impact the front office’s approach?

“No,” Boone said. “I get the sense that they have been working on this in different ways, shape and form for the last several weeks, getting ready for trade deadline stuff and I expect them to try and do all they can to improve our team. But again, you never know how that’s going to shake out. We’ll see. Again, you’ve got still teams out there defining who they are and what they’re even going to do come a week from now or whenever it is. No, I think they’re eager to improve our club if they can. But things got to line up, too.”

“We’ll see,” Boone added. “You never know. You go in looking to try and improve certain areas. Sometimes it lines up. Sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes you’ve got to pivot and go add to a strength or you never know how it’s going to go. You’ve just got to be prepared that if something lines up and makes sense you’re able to go do that. I know the front office is doing all their due diligence right now and we’ll see how it shakes out over the next week.”

Other injury updates

Boone was also asked about Giancarlo Stanton, Carlos Rodón and Clarke Schmidt.

There is no clarity of when Stanton (right calf strain) could return, Boone said.

“He’s continuing with his running progression,” Boone said of Stanton, who is with the Yankees as they continue their 10-game road trip. “The strength stuff, explosive stuff he’s doing in the weight room has been very good. We’ve just got to get him up to a level, obviously, on the running side of things to be able to go out there.”

Rodón (left elbow inflammation) and Schmidt (right forearm tightness) are set to throw live batting practices this week, Boone said.

“I think he’s a live Wednesday, I believe, and Clarke is, I think, on Friday,” Boone said. “Carlos will have a two-up live Wednesday — I believe that’s Somerset.”