Conservative approach taken with Stanton, Judge, Torres explained

NEW YORK — Aaron Judge was back in the lineup Wednesday night after playing in just one game since Aug. 11 because of a strained right calf that put him on the injured list twice.

It was the second straight day the Yankees got key players back from the injured list. This time they are hopeful the team will be whole for the rest of the season.

“I believe they’re healthy, and so I’m excited about that,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I think part of the reason we’re going lightly is because they didn’t really have a big rehab process as far as going down and playing a number of games ... in Giancarlo [Stanton]’s case it was a pretty long layoff.

“So we kind of decided that, ‘Hey, let’s build them up here, and we’ll do it a little more conservatively here, as opposed to keep them down there for an extra three or four days and then they kind of roll right into regular games here.’ So we decided to go this way and hopefully this pays off for them and for us.”

The Yankees are banking on their new strength and conditioning program, which is headed by celebrity baseball trainer Eric Creesey. They overhauled the department after a record number of injuries in 2019.

Stanton, whoplayed just 18 regular-season games in 2019 because of numerous injuries, played Tuesday night for the first time in 32 games and then had a scheduled off day Wednesday night to slowly bring him back up to speed. The end goal is the playoffs in 13 days.

Stanton said that coming off this injury, he has a new approach: not only preparing for games but staying loose and ready to try and keep him on the field.

“We have a new warmup, new midgame routine, if certain things happen in the game,” Stanton said. “Like if, I’m the DHandthenIdon’t run the bases for two at-bats, that’s an hour-and-a-half of no movement. So you got to do more in between at-bats and stuff like that.

“[That’s] whathasbeendone, but we’ve got to switch it up.”

Taking it easy with Torres: Gleyber Torres was out of the Yankees’ starting lineup for the second straight game as the Yankees managehis return fromleg injuries. Theshortstop hadmissed 13 games on the IL with a strained quad and hamstring, returning Sept. 5.

Boone said that he expects this to be the last day that Torres is not in the starting lineup.

“Gleyber’s good... one more day is best here just to be safe,” Boone said. “

Paxton done?: James Paxton is seemingly done for the 2020 season. The left-hander had been shut down from rehab of a strained flexor in his left forearm a week ago. Wednesday, and in a sign they don’t expect him back, the Yankees moved him to the 45-day IL to make room for catcher Wynston Sawyer on the 40-man roster. They signed him to a major-league contract and sent him to the alternate training site.

The 31-year-old Paxton will be a free agent after this season. In five starts, he was 1-1 with a 6.64 ERA.