Associated Press | Larry Fleisher: The Yankees maintained hope throughout the week that Aaron Judge’s rib injury wouldn’t be too serious, with the captain undergoing a long series of tests and imaging. That hope was dashed last night, as the team announced that Judge has been diagnosed with a stress fracture in his right rib and will be shut down for four to six weeks before being re-evaluated. Judge at least dodged a bullet in the form of thoracic outlet syndrome, but that’s only so much comfort
to the Yankees, who will be without Judge for a significant chunk of the rest of the season.
The Athletic | Chris Kirschner: The news of Judge missing months of time quickly conjured bad memories for fans of the 2023 campaign, when the Yankees finished with their just 82 wins, their worst season in 31 years. However, Kirschner argues that the 2026 squad is in a better position to withstand Judge’s absence. No team in baseball is going to improve upon losing their MVP of course, but the only regulars from 2023 who were at or above league average by wRC+ were Gleyber Torres (122) and a still-declining DJ LeMahieu (100). In contrast, this year’s club so far has Ben Rice (184, actually better than Judge’s 150), Cody Bellinger (137), José Caballero (105), Trent Grisham (101), and Jazz Chisholm Jr. (100). Bench bats Paul Goldschmidt and Amed Rosario surpass that mark, and there’s obviously potential from Giancarlo Stanton and Jasson Domínguez’s forthcoming returns as well.
CBS Sports | RotoWire: Stanton, who was cleared to resume running last week, is working his way back from a calf strain that landed him on the injured list on April 28th. Per manager Aaron Boone, he will take live batting practice again this weekend and will continue to ramp up running. He won’t be ready in time to be activated ahead of next week’s road trip that starts in Cleveland on June 8th, though. Activation in mid-June feels plausible, especially because thanks to Trajekt pitching machines, the DH sometimes doesn’t actually need rehab assignments.
MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: The Yankees have been without Domínguez since he hurt his left AC joint against the left-field wall on a great defensive play back on May 7th. He appears to be closer than Stanton and will officially start a rehab stint this weekend, playing minor league games on Friday and Sunday. Boone said that the Martian is expected to play more games past that, though, so it’s not as though he will immediately tag in for Judge. He is close, though.
ESPN | Jeff Passan: Passan published an early Trade Deadline preview, and of course the Yankees were mentioned. The MLB insider said that even though New York doesn’t need Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, the moment he officially becomes available, “The Yankees will gauge the cost, because even if you don’t need something, that doesn’t mean you don’t want it.”
Passan, however, did say that Isaac Paredes is their best option “in an ideal world,” and that they need power arms for their bullpen, although he speculated the latter might come from within the organization.
