The speculation has finally ended as the Yankees decided to put star outfielder Aaron Judge on the IL before Monday’s game.
Judge went through a light workout earlier in the day and was even slated to take batting practice ahead of the Yankees’ game against the Cleveland Guardians. However, just before 6 p.m. ET, the team made the decision to put the reigning AL-MVP on the IL and recall Franchy Cordero to take his place on the active roster.
“I think Aaron’s being realistic,” said Boone had said on Monday before batting practice. “He understands what’s at stake and that it’s important. So we’re having real conversations. I don’t want to close the door on [him] if he’s ready to play in a couple of days.”
The Yankees had likely wanted to hold off on making a decision regarding sending Judge to the IL because their next series is against Tampa Bay. In fact, seven of the team’s next 13 games are against the Rays and then they play the Blue Jays for four immediately after that. Any extended absence for Judge would be a huge swing in the race for the AL East.
Considering the Yankees come into Monday tied with the Red Sox for last place and are already eight games behind Tampa Bay, losing a vast majority of those seven games could make it really hard to close the gap, even with so many games remaining.
With Judge’s placement on the IL being made retroactive to his last appearance, the earliest he can come back is May 8th, which will mean that he is guaranteed to miss the first series against Tampa Bay later this week.
The injury drama around Judge started on Wednesday at Minnesota on his 31st birthday. The Yankees captain landed awkwardly on his right side while trying to slide as he attempted to steal third base.
A closer look at the Aaron Judge slide pic.twitter.com/f36wN2Nhjk
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) April 26, 2023
Judge was able to start the series opener against Texas on Thursday night, but he was replaced in right field in the bottom of the fourth inning after striking out in his only two at-bats.
Judge, who hit an AL single-season-record 62 home runs last season, is hitting .261 with six homers and 14 RBIs in 26 games this year. He had played in every Yankees game until being out of the lineup over the weekend.
On Sunday, Boone said, “In the grand scheme of things and big picture, we do feel like we got good news on it. That said, we want to make sure we’re doing right by him and by us.”
Without Judge over the weekend, the Yankees were swept by the Rangers, who are also without their star Corey Seager. New York scored just four runs in the three games and was outscored by Texas 22-4 during the series.
The Yankees added Jake Bauers to the 26-man roster Saturday, taking the spot of right fielder Franchy Cordero, who was optioned to Triple-A after Friday night’s game. However, Bauers made a sliding catch in left field during his first start and slammed his knee into the padding of the outfield wall. While Bauers experienced swelling, his MRI came back clean and he avoided the IL.
He appears to be one of the only Yankees players to get good news when it comes to MRI results.
In addition to now being without Judge, the Yankees lineup was already without outfielders Giancarlo Stanton (left hamstring strain) and Harrison Bader (left oblique strain), and third baseman Josh Donaldson (right hamstring strain). The pitching staff has been hit even harder with six players on the IL, including key starters Carlos Rodon, Frankie Montas, and Luis Severino.
Losing Judge is, obviously, a massive blow to a Yankees lineup that has really scuffled this season.
On the season, New York is 26th in baseball in batting average, 22nd in slugging percentage, 17th in strikeout rate, and 23rd in runs scored.
That’s not gonna cut it with New York fans, but it’s also not going to get any better unless Judge is fully healthy, which the team hopes will be the case with some rest.
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