Yankees get relatively good news on Aaron Judge, but can they survive his absence?
The Yankees are hoping for a good medicfal report on Aaron Judge's elbow. Credit: Noah K. Murray
Here’s what passes for good news these days for the Bad News Yankees:
Aaron Judge doesn’t have a torn UCL and doesn’t need to have Tommy John surgery. He has a flexor tendon strain in his right elbow and is going on the 10-day injured list with plans to return after 10 days as a designated hitter — at least at first — because his elbow hurts too much when he throws.
Aaron Boone made that announcement on Saturday after the Yankees’ third straight loss, a 9-4 stinker against Philadelphia at a Yankee Stadium so jammed with Phillies fans that it’s a shock that cheesesteaks weren’t handed out to the first 18,000 fans.
But for the Yankees fans in attendance, the game was a secondary concern. Judge was not in the lineup with what social media quickly disbursed to the masses as “an elbow issue,” to quote an “obviously concerned” Boone.
Concerned? How about terrified? How about ready to advance to panic-stricken?
Judge had undergone imaging, but the results were not back at 11 a.m., when Boone first met the media. He ominously didn’t rule out UCL involvement, saying, “I don’t know.”
After the game, Boone said he learned just before first pitch that the most important ulnar collateral ligament on the ballclub (and maybe the entire league) is intact.
“All in all, we got good news today,” Boone said.
The Yankees decided not to share that news during the three-hour, 18-minute game, which featured more bad pitching and the Yankees’ 10th error in their last five games (this one by Jazz Chisholm Jr.).
That’s not a criticism, just an observation. Teams often announce injury news during games, but they are under no obligation to do so. The multiple moving parts on Saturday morning and early afternoon after Judge played in pain on Friday night probably had team honchos more concerned with exactly what they were going to do than when they were going to reveal it to worried fans, who already were calling the season over if their worst fears about Judge’s injury became grim reality.
Luckily for the Yankees, they didn’t.
Judge’s early day consisted of getting an MRI, meeting with the medicos and getting the results, having a platelet-rich plasma injection to speed healing, trying to convince the Yankees not to put him on the IL and then accepting that he was going to lose that battle.
“I really was reluctant about going on the IL or anything like that,” Judge said. “I was like, ‘If I can hit, let me hit.’ ''
Judge returning as a DH means Giancarlo Stanton is going to have to start working out in the outfield in anticipation for his first game with a glove since Sept. 14, 2023.
“It’s not going to be like I’ve never been out there before,” Stanton said.
Remember, these are the Bad News Yankees right now. So they should root for the sight of Stanton patrolling right in 10 days because that means Judge will be healthy enough to swing his lethal bat.
Judge is so much better than the rest of the league that it’s hard to fathom.
Going into Saturday, he led the majors in batting average (.342), on-base percentage (.449), slugging percentage (.711) and OPS (1.160). Judge not only had the highest OPS but was the only player over 1.000. Shohei Ohtani was next at .994.
Now Judge’s numbers are frozen for a while.
Unfortunately, the Yankees have recent experience of playing without their captain. When Judge suffered toe ligament damage while crashing into the fence at Dodger Stadium on June 3, 2023, he was out until July 28. The Yankees went 19-24 during his absence. Judge had 19 home runs and a 1.078 OPS before the injury and 18 home runs and a .965 OPS after it. The Yankees finished 82-80 and missed the playoffs.
With Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham and Jasson Dominguez, the Yankees are covered in the outfield this time.
It doesn’t look as if top prospect Spencer Jones is being called up to replace Judge.
The Judge-like 6-7 lefthanded hitter is punishing Triple-A pitchers to the tune of 10 home runs in his last 12 games, including three on Thursday. Jones, however, sat out Friday’s game with back spasms and was not in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre lineup on Saturday night, either. So even if the Bad News Yankees wanted to call him up, they apparently can’t because he’s injured, too.
The Yankees don’t actually need an offensive jolt; they need to pitch better and to catch the darn baseball.
They are 14-23 in their last 37 games, which is the second-worst mark in the majors to Washington (11 wins going into Saturday) in that span. They have been outscored 29-13 in the last three games.
The trade deadline is Thursday, and general manager Brian Cashman has to keep looking for additions. New third baseman Ryan McMahon — who went 1-for-3 with a walk and a Graig Nettles-like diving play and throw on a grounder down the line in his Yankees debut — is a start.
The Yankees have needs. First among them is to not completely implode while Judge is out.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
