It could go down as the Wince Seen ‘Round the World.
The Yankees world. The baseball world.
When Aaron Judge was shown on YES with a pained expression on his face after making a throw from rightfield in Toronto on Tuesday, it was easy to brush it off. Things happen. Players feel twinges all the time.
But it can’t be brushed off now. Judge was not in the lineup on Saturday against Phillies lefthander Ranger Suarez because of what manager Aaron Boone called “an elbow issue.”
At this point, the Yankees can only hope it’s not elbow gloom.
Judge was undergoing tests and talking to doctors on Saturday morning and was not to be found in the Yankees clubhouse.
Boone would not speculate on the severity of the injury.
“Obviously concerned,” he said. “But we’ll wait and see as they read the imaging.”
When asked if the injury could involve the Ulnar Collateral Ligament – “UCL” are the three letters no athlete wants to see on a medical report as a tear can lead to Tommy John surgery – Boone said, “I don’t know.”
The best-case scenario for Judge, the Yankees and all of MLB is for the injury to the best player in the game to be minor, for ice packs and anti-inflammatories to be the extent of the treatment needed.
The worst-case scenario? We dare not say it. The Yankees dare not think it.
And it all started with a seventh-inning throw to second base from the rightfield corner at Rogers Centre.
Judge winced. Or grimaced. But not the good Grimace like the Mets had last season. It was a bad grimace that could end up tanking this Yankees season.
“He had a throw in Toronto where it zinged him,” Boone said. “It hurt . . . And then (Friday) night was just struggling to throw a little bit. So want to get this checked out.”
Judge stayed in Tuesday’s game. He was the designated hitter on Wednesday; Boone had said on Monday that was going to happen. The Yankees were off on Thursday. Judge played right on Friday.
And then the lineup card went up without his name on it on Saturday morning.
The Yankees went into the day with a 14-22 record over their last 36 games. And that’s with Judge having another historic season; he was leading the majors in batting average (.342), on-base percentage (.449), slugging percentage (.711) and OPS (1.160).
Judge not only had the highest OPS, but he was the only player over 1.000. Shohei Ohtani was next at .994.
Could the Yankees survive an extended absence? Boone wouldn’t go there.
“Now we’re getting into speculating,” he said. “The thing I want is, ‘What do we have here now? Then what’s the course of action?’ I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself on that. Hopefully, it’s something that is manageable and we can get through.”
Unfortunately, the Yankees have recent experience of playing without their captain. When Judge suffered toe ligament damage crashing into the fence at Dodger Stadium on June 3, 2023, he was out until July 28.
The Yankees went 19-24 during Judge’s absence. Judge had 19 home runs and a 1.078 OPS before the injury and 18 home runs and a .965 OPS after it. But the Yankees finished 82-80 and missed the playoffs.
With Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham and Jasson Dominguez, the Yankees are covered in the outfield if Judge only misses a few games or even needs a 10-day injured list stint.
A longer absence? They’d have to think about promoting top prospect Spencer Jones, the Judge-like 6-foot-7 lefthanded hitter who is punishing Triple-A pitchers to the tune of 10 home runs in his last 12 games, including three on Thursday.
Jones, though, sat out Friday’s game with back spasms (his status for Saturday night’s Scranton/Wilkes-Barre game has yet to be announced). The 24-year-old had 29 home runs in 68 minor-league games going into Saturday.
The trade deadline is Thursday. But no one can replace Aaron Judge. Until something definitive about the captain’s elbow is announced, Yankees fans should cross their fingers, and maybe throw in a few toes, too.
