Judge should be good for opener
TAMPA — When the Yankees played their final game of spring training on Monday, Aaron Judge wasn’t in the lineup for a third straight day.
Not surprisingly, that set off alarms with the fan base, but Aaron Boone said the right fielder “should be good to go” for Thursday’s season opener against the Blue Jays in The Bronx.
General manager Brian Cashman said Judge reported not feeling well and blamed it on allergies, but Judge was still sent through COVID protocols to rule that out.
“It was just normal spring training stuff,’’ Cashman said. “In the COVID environment, any little issue conveyed, you react a little larger to. We sent him through all the protocols and thankfully eliminated all stuff other than not feeling really well.”
Judge last played Friday and doubled. Judge hit his first — and only — homer of the spring on Thursday against the Phillies in Clearwater, Fla.
➤ Luke Voit was scheduled to have surgery to repair his partially torn meniscus in his left knee Monday in New York at Hospital for Special Surgery. That opened up a spot for Jay Bruce, who started at first base again Monday and bobbled what could have been a double-play ball, but has mostly been adequate at the position.
Cashman said he’s hoping Bruce plays well enough that they have a tough decision to make when Voit returns, which figures to be in May.
“I hope so,’’ Cashman said. “I want him to light it up so we have more decisions to make.”
➤ Aroldis Chapman has to sit the first two games of the regular season for throwing a pitch near Tampa Bay’s Mike Brosseau’s head last year and Aaron Boone said there will be no clear-cut closer in his absence.
“It’ll be where we are in the game,’’ Boone said. “Maybe Chad [Green]. Hopefully we’re in a position to close out a game or two. It could be anyone.”
➤ Domingo German said through an interpreter he “wasn’t expecting to pitch the third game” of the season until he was told he would be.
The right-hander entered camp in a battle with Deivi Garcia for the fifth spot in the rotation, but performed so well, it was clear he’d be one of the team’s five starters early in camp after missing all of last season while serving his 81-game suspension for violating MLB’s domestic violence protocols.
He allowed his first runs of the spring in Monday’s loss to the Tigers, a two-run homer to Akil Baddoo, but struck out four more batters in four innings.