The Yankees lost an annoying game last night in a series opener in the Bronx against the Guardians, but that’s probably not what’s front-of-mind for most of their fans. For the first time all year, Aaron Judge was absent from the startng lineup, as manager Aaron Boone revealed that he’s been battling a bone bruise on his right rib cage that’s affected his shoulder.
In short, it stinks, and while Judge is set to see a specialist today to get another opinion, it appears that for now, the Yankees are in “wait and see” mode with no IL move just yet. What was that Homer Simpson once said about The Waiting Game?
Yeah. We don’t have a collective game of “Hungry Hungry Hippos” to distact us, so instead I ask you to rate your concern about Judge’s injury. Maybe it won’t be much in the grand scheme of things—remember when the world freaked out about Juan Soto’s elbow in June 2024 and those were almost literally the only games he missed all year? And yet we can’t rule out something more.
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So let’s say it’s a scale of 1-5, with 1 representing no conern at all and 5 representing PANIC CITY. I think I’m honestly at a 2. Bone bruises just make me wary on principle; call it long-term damage from what Derek Jeter’s 2012 bone bruise turned into, though obviouly he was four years older than Judge is now and it was a different part of the body. But I do think that this will ultimately be something minor causing Judge to only miss a few games. Maybe. Hopefully.
My primary hope is that if it’s looking like they do need to put him on the IL after the specialist meets with him, they just get it over with and don’t play a man short for too long. Again, different injury, but Judge had a quick 10-day IL stint last year to get over a right elbow flexor strain and didn’t miss a beat upon returning. Fingers crossed that this is the worst-case scenario.
Today on the site, Josh will deep-dive on what’s going on with Aaron Judge and what his bone bruise may or may not be affecting (as compared to his age), Matt will run through the Rivalry Roundup, and Jeremy will celebrate the 51st birthday of a former World Series champion and true defensive genius behind the plate. Later, we’ll talk prospects, as Scott looks back at a bumpy May for the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, Michael breaks down George Lombard Jr.’s first month at Triple-A, and Andrés considers Carlos Lagrange’s development within the past month amid the recent news that he’ll be working out of the bullpen.
Today’s Matchup
New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Guardians
Time: 7:05 p.m. EST
Video: Amazon Prime Video, Guardians.tv
Venue: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY
