Boone says Judge ‘good to go’ for Opening Day
NEWYORK—AaronJudgewas on the field Wednesday working out with the rest of the Yankees in preparation for Thursday’s Opening Day. The slugger missed the last three games of spring training because he was feeling “under the weather,” but he was on track to start Thursday afternoon against the Blue Jays at the Stadium.
“He’s good. He’s good to go. Looks great,” Aaron Boone said. “He looks great in BP. I think they might be out there hitting still off the off velocity and I know a few guys are standing out to hit a little bit extra.
“But yeah, Judge looks great, feels great. He’s ready to go”
Boone, however, would not divulge his Opening Day lineup Wednesday because he was still playing withtheorder.
“I want to finalize exactly the order I want to go in for tomorrow,” the Yankees manager said. “So I’ll probably do that over the next couple hours, just making sure I check with our coaches one last time just to make sure, but in my head I have what I’m probably going with.”
Long wait: It took six years, but Lucas Luetge is back in the big leagues. The lefty who has not pitched in the majors since 2015, grabbed the last roster spot.
“I amhappytoreportthatLucas is on our team,” Boone said. “Obviously he came into camp and had some expectations around him, but frankly, there was a lot of really good competition. Frankly, better competition than I feel like we’ve had in the last several years. And there are a lot of different ways we were considering going for that spot, but it’s hard to deny what Lucas was able to come in really from the start of camp and really push his way onto the roster, earn his spot.
“I amexcited to see what he can potentially gooutanddoforus.”
Luetge pitched one game in 2015 and never made it back to the majors until now. The 33-year-old father of three lost the 2018 season to Tommy John, but had a breakoutseasonin2019intheminors.He signedwiththeA’sovertheYankees inthewinterof2019, butgotcaught in the minors when their bullpen wasamongthebestinbaseball.Last winter, he took his second chance withtheYankees.
Wilsonrampingup: Left-handed relieverJustinWilsonthrewabullpen at Yankees Stadium Wednesday, his second since being pulled from a spring training game with shoulder tightness.
“He’s doing really well. It was one of those where he wanted to be ready to go tomorrow and on some level probably could (have been),” Boone said. “I just think to erronthesideofcaution.Intheend itprobablycostsusaboutsixgames. Ibelievetheclockstarted,yesterday is day one of the 10 days. Obviously wehaveacoupleoffdaysinthereso I think he’d be eligible after the off day going into the Tampa series. I thinkhe’sduetothrowlivenextand we might even throw back to back lives andthen, he’ll bereadytogo.”