He spoke for a few minutes just to the right of the first-base line, fully outfitted in his pinstripes and a dark blue pullover jacket, the interlocking white “NY” on the front of the chest. Giancarlo Stanton listened as a trainer and coach Reggie Willets offered a few last hopeful thoughts.

And then he was off.

First was a 50 percent “sprint,” from approximately home plate to first. Then came a jog from first to third — maybe 50 percent, maybe less. He did both again. Then he walked off the field, and up in the press box, three things were abundantly clear:

1. He didn’t look to be in agony.

2. He didn’t look anywhere close to 100 percent.

3. There was a better chance of Bob “Irish” Meusel being in the lineup, playing left field, than Giancarlo Stanton Thursday night, when the Yankees hosted the Astros in Game 4 of the best-of-seven American League Championship Series, the Yankees hoping to knot the series at 2-2.

It was a few moments after that when the Yankees announced two separate and unsurprising things.

1. Stanton wasn’t in the starting lineup for a third straight game, replaced again by Aaron Hicks, moved up to third in the batting order from ninth.

2. Stanton was still being kept on the roster.

“He was better today,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, just past 5:15 p.m., when he met the media for his pregame briefing. “For the first time he saw some improvement today, whether he was running 60 percent or whatever.

“I don’t feel ready for him to be an option in the field for us, but he certainly wants to be in there. I thought today overall was encouraging, taking a step forward. He’s more of an option now off the bench as a hitter.”

It has been a subject of much discussion, ever since Stanton was a no-show for Game 2 after tweaking his quad the day before. A small but vocal element of fans wondered — mostly on talk radio — if Stanton was really as hurt as he was letting on, which seems an absurd possibility.

(And for that precinct of opinion, may I suggest looking up the Aug. 18, 1980 edition of Sports Illustrated, whose cover subject, J.R. Richard, had been feeling poorly for weeks, who had been roundly accused of faking it … and who wound up nearly dying from a stroke. Thirty-nine years later the headline on that story still haunts: “NOW EVERYONE BELIEVES HIM.”)

The more rational and salient point was this: Should Stanton continue to occupy a roster spot if he can’t play? It’s a sticky situation, because if he is removed from and replaced on the ALCS roster (with the Yankees likely to choose from either slugger Luke Voit, speedster Tyler Wade or grinder Mike Tauchman), he would also be forced to be kept off the World Series roster should the Yankees advance that far.

Frankly, the Yankees did the right thing keeping him on.

Of the choices, Wade is the most intriguing because he could give the Yankees something they simply don’t have right now: a late-inning pinch-running option, capable of stealing a base or going first-to-third or first-to-home. It is a specific need, and one the Yankees could have employed in Game 2 when Edwin Encarnacion walked in the 11th inning.

Otherwise? Tauchman and Voit were both integral parts of the team this year, but in an American League series in which pinch hitters are rarely needed and even more rarely used, it is likely they would both do what Stanton would do Thursday night: sit. Now, we can debate if they have had more value to the 2019 Yankees or not, but the Yankees themselves have already solved that debate. They were kept off the roster for a reason.

If the Yankees make the World Series, they will be in the market for pinch hitters in Games 3, 4 and 5, which will be played without a DH at Nationals Park. If Stanton can’t play left field but can pinch hit, he would be a nice weapon to have in reserve. If he can’t, then Voit or Tauchman should (and likely would) get the nod then.

No need to make a hasty decision, no need to rush to judgment.