NEW YORK -- Following Wednesday's rainout, the ALCS picks back up Thursday night with Game 4 at Yankee Stadium (GameTracker). The Houston Astros currently hold a 2-1 series lead over the New York Yankees. The Yankees will look to even the series in Game 4 without Giancarlo Stanton in their starting lineup.

Stanton is again out of the lineup with the quad injury he suffered running out an infield single in Game 1. Here is New York's Game 4 lineup:

  1. 1B DJ LeMahieu
  2. RF Aaron Judge
  3. CF Aaron Hicks
  4. 2B Gleyber Torres
  5. DH Edwin Encarnacion
  6. LF Brett Gardner
  7. C Gary Sanchez
  8. 3B Gio Urshela
  9. SS Didi Gregorius

"Even though G hasn't been able to go yet, I did view him as a potential option off the bench in a hitting situation if we like something," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Wednesday about Stanton's availability. "So I don't look at it as we're entirely 24-man right now. I do believe we have his bat off the bench right now."

Stanton took batting practice and ran on the field prior to Game 3 on Tuesday. He ran the bases Thursday afternoon but was clearly not running at full speed:

"For the first time, I saw some improvement today, whether he was running at 60 percent or whatever," Boone said prior to Game 4. "I don't feel like he's an option in the outfield for us. I feel like there's a possibility that kind of that DH role now. It was a little bit of a decision for me. He certainly wants to be in there. I thought today overall was encouraging as far as taking a little bit of a step forward and do feel like he's more of an option now. And again, he's an option off the bench for us, certainly as a hitter."  

Injured players can be replaced on the postseason roster, but doing so means the player is ineligible for the next round. For the Yankees, replacing Stanton now means losing him for the World Series should they advance. That's not ideal. Even if he's limited to DH going forward, he can still change a game with one swing.

"I think outfield is still potentially in play moving forward. Not yet. I would not feel great about throwing him out there yet in the outfield, especially here in a big left field," Boone said. "When we get to Houston, temperature control and obviously a smaller left field, that may change a little bit. I think you're talking about a defensive position where you have to move and make plays, whereas offensively you're betting more on the bat and the quality of the at-bat, and the ability to run in a controlled manner."    

At the same time, the Yankees can only play shorthanded for so long, especially against a team as good as the Astros. They're operating with a two-man bench right now (backup catcher Austin Romine and backup outfielder Cameron Maybin) and lack roster flexibility. The Yankees have several candidates to replace Stanton (by rule, he can only be replaced by another position player):

1B Luke Voit: Voit is traveling with the Yankees and would be available right away. The problem here is Voit stopped hitting after suffering a sports hernia at midseason, and he provides no defensive value or versatility, and isn't a weapon on the bases. If Voit is the likely roster addition, the Yankees might as well wait another day to evaluate Stanton.

1B Mike Ford: The left-handed Voit, basically. Ford had a very strong second half showing (.259/.359/.559) but is another first base only guy with no defensive or baserunning value. The Yankees could put Ford and Encarnacion in the lineup at first base and DH (either order), slide LeMahieu to third base, and sit Urshela. Could work.

OF Clint Frazier: Like Stanton, Frazier is a right-handed hitting outfielder who needs a late-inning defensive replacement. (Stanton is a pretty good defender, but he's been moving around gingerly since his midseason knee injury.) The Yankees appeared to sour on Frazier this season, hence him spending the summer in Triple-A.

OF Mike Tauchman: Tauchman suffered what was thought to be a season-ending calf injury in September, but GM Brian Cashman recently told Joel Sherman of the New York Post he is healthy and ready to play. Tauchman is a needed lefty bat who brings speedy and defense. The downside is he hasn't faced live pitching in weeks.  

UTIL Tyler Wade: The speedy Wade was on the ALDS roster as a pinch-running specialist. He's the fastest player on the 40-man roster and can play both the infield and outfield, so he has a clear role as a bench guy. Wade won't be a pinch-hitting option, but the Yankees don't really need one of those anyway. He can at least steal a base late in a close game.

C Kyle Higashioka: Three catchers? Eh, that's overkill. It's an option, sure, but not a great one. Voit and Higashioka have been traveling with the Yankees this postseason. Ford, Frazier, and Wade are currently at the team's spring training complex staying ready in case they're needed, and Tauchman is there rehabbing.

The Yankees have more information about Stanton's injury that we ever will, and if they believe he's truly only a day or two away from returning to the lineup, even as a DH, then they absolutely should keep him around for the time being. Playing shorthanded stinks, but Stanton is a potential game-changer, so you wait on him if you can.

On the other side of the coin, if Stanton's running session didn't go well Thursday -- he was on the field no more than 10 minutes, I'd say -- and he's not making much progress healing, it's probably time to shut him down and get back to a full-strength roster. Ford, Tauchman, and Wade stand out as potentially useful roster additions.

The Yankees have struggled offensively the last two games -- not coincidentally, those games were started by Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole -- and Stanton, who was having great at-bats and hit a homer on the bad quad in Game 1, would be a big lineup boost. At some point though, if he's not getting healthy, the Yankees have to get someone on the roster who can help now.