Well, that explains a lot about the stuff that needed explaining. Aaron Judge was sitting out tonight’s game against Cleveland for the first time all year, and manager Aaron Boone let us know why: a bone bruise.
I share Boonie’s hope that this is a day to day concern, though it does raise more questions. Yankee players playing through pain only for the injury to linger or worsen has been a hallmark of Boone’s time as manager, and that it now involves the team’s most important player is only going
to increase that scrutiny. We also have to reckon with how much that injury may have tamped down Judge’s usual MVP-level performance. It’s worth noting that Hoch later told us that it was the Captain’s right shoulder, or top hand, which typically helps drive more power into your swing than the bottom hand.
In particular, the way this shoulder soreness has lingered also makes me skeptical about recovery. I don’t want to have both Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge on the IL at the same time, but if a shorter, immediate stint is the best path to getting 100 percent Judge back, I’ll take that over a strained day-to-day process where they try to wait something out.
Whatever path the Yankees end up taking, any game without No. 99 in the lineup, even if he’s a .950 OPS instead of a 1.050 OPS, is going to be felt. Someone else further down the line will have to step things up, starting against the Guardians in a couple hours. In the meantime, they’ll line up Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham, and José Caballero from left to right in the outfield, with Paul Goldschmidt sliding into the No. 2 spot in the lineup against the lefty Joey Cantillo.
