Yankees bracing for the worst with Judge
Rumblings in Bronx are slugger may not be 100 per cent before season ends
NEW YORK — Remember the New York Yankees’ rosy projection of a three-week timetable for Aaron Judge’s return from a fractured wrist? Now change that to anyone’s guess, and even when Judge does make it back, there’s no telling how effective he’ll be, an unpleasant reality that general manager Brian Cashman finally copped to before Wednesday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
We sort of suspected that from the jump. But the Yankees’ streak of wishful thinking ended when Cashman stoked those fears anew during Wednesday’s interview with WFAN’s Mike Francesa. The GM came clean, saying that the team “undershot” in their initial estimation — Thursday marks exactly three weeks since Judge was drilled on July 26 — and the outfielder’s lingering wrist pain not only remains an issue, but would likely hinder him upon his return to the lineup.
As for an updated prediction, Cashman offered only this vague assessment: “It’s going to take longer, and it will be whenever. But he will be back at some point.”
The Yankees arrived at this conclusion after Judge had another MRI and CT scan, along with a cortisone shot Monday to “alleviate the pain,” according to Cashman. The latest round of tests didn’t alter the original diagnosis — a chip fracture — but manager Aaron Boone did acknowledge Wednesday that the healing process has been slower than anticipated.
That didn’t prevent Judge from running the bases Wednesday and chasing balls in right field, basically the extent of his activities before he can swing a bat outside of a hydrotherapy pool. While the other Yankees took batting practice Wednesday, Judge signed autographs — something he does often — but Boone interrupted to call him over for a chat behind the cage and the two later disappeared down the dugout runway.
After a few weeks assuming the best with Judge, the Yankees now seem to be bracing for the worst, and Cashman didn’t sugar-coat the prognosis during his chat with WFAN. There are no shortcuts when it comes to repairing a broken bone, and the GM was forced to backpedal this time, along with pumping the brakes on the expectations going forward. It’s unusual for Cashman to be guilty of underselling injuries — that’s a problem more associated with the New York Mets — but he whiffed badly on Judge.
“It’s just waiting it out,” Cashman said. “It’s really a pain management situation. We probably over-expected maybe because of how Judge has responded in years gone by. With anything pain related, he’s as tough as nails ... but it’s going to take as long as it needs to take, and we’re going to give him that time, because you don’t want to mess things up and push him through something when it’s not ready.”
The Yankees should be able to weather Judge’s absence in the short-term, only because the upcoming schedule is littered with pushovers. They are 11-9 since Judge was put on the DL, but the dip included a four-game sweep at Fenway that essentially locked up baseball’s American League East for the nearly unbeatable Boston Red Sox (86-35). The Yankees don’t play an above-. 500 team until their Sept. 3 visit to Oakland, which could be a preview of the AL wild-card game. Based on what’s already transpired, it’s no guarantee Judge will be in the lineup by then. And his name simply appearing in the No. 2 spot again doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be the same Judge that had a .285 /.398 /.548 batting slash line with 26 homers and before the Royals’ Jakob Junis plunked him with that 94-m.p.h. fastball.
Cashman implied as much when talking about the early stages of Judge’s return, which would probably involve a number of stops-and-starts as he gets comfortable again. That’s unavoidable when a player misses a month or more, especially when it affects the range of motion for a wrist. It’s within the realm of possibility that Judge won’t be anything close to 100 per cent through the remainder of this season, for however long it lasts. That’s troubling. “Once he’s healthy, then there’s knocking the rust out and getting him back to peak performance levels, and that takes time,” Cashman said.
“Sometimes you get lucky and guys don’t miss a beat, but that would be highly unlikely. He’s going to be obviously dealing with getting his timing back, and then how the wrist responds . ... Those are unknowns.”
For now, Judge is a six-footseven question mark, and Cashman wound up being as guilty as everyone else in trying to duck the unfortunate truth for as long as possible.