{"id":479720,"date":"2026-02-17T03:08:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T03:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/479720\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T03:08:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T03:08:07","slug":"yankees-captain-aaron-judge-like-many-fans-stressed-over-teams-quiet-off-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/479720\/","title":{"rendered":"Yankees captain Aaron Judge, like many fans, stressed over team\u2019s quiet off-season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

New York Yankee Aaron Judge takes live batting practice during a spring training baseball workout on Monday in Tampa, Fla.Chris O’meara\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Aaron Judge fretted like many Yankees fans as big-name free agents kept signing elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was brutal,\u201d the New York captain said Monday after the year\u2019s first full-squad workout. \u201cEarly on it was pretty tough to watch. I\u2019m like: Man, we\u2019re the New York Yankees. Let\u2019s go out there and get the right people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge spoke at length about the Yankees\u2019 lack of World Series title since 2009, of homering and striking out against 22-year-old flamethrower Carlos Lagrange during the workout, about captaining the U.S. in the upcoming World Baseball Classic and last year\u2019s elbow injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe awards, the MVP, all-stars, man, that stuff, it doesn\u2019t matter. What matters is putting New York back on top and putting this organization back where it belongs,\u201d Judge said. \u201cI don\u2019t get paid to just play this game. I get paid to win here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge missed 10 games between July 25 and Aug. 5 because of a flexor strain in his right elbow sustained making a throw home from right field at Toronto on July 22. He didn\u2019t return to the outfield until Sept. 5 and he threw gingerly at 67.9 miles per hour. Judge gained arm strength during the rest of the season but didn\u2019t get to 100 per cent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never dealt with any elbow stuff, so I was definitely concerned,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Judge wasn\u2019t sure until after the postseason that he would avoid surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey ran all the checks again and did all the tests and they said: `You\u2019re good to go,\u2019\u201d he remembered. \u201cAnd I said: All right, when can we start throwing? So it was good. It was great. It was great to hear those words so that now I can go into the off-season and just prepare the way I need to be in the best shape to start the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

His elbow is at full strength.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge hits live pitching during a spring training baseball workout on Thursday in Tampa, Fla.Chris O’meara\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

\u201cThrowing to bases a couple of times already, so no worries,\u201d he said. \u201cJust excited to get back out there and just have the confidence, especially \u2013 that was the toughest thing for me last year, was the pitcher\u2019s working his butt off and the guys around me were working their butt off and then the ball was hit to me and I had no shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge, who turns 34 in April, won his third AL MVP in four years and became just the fourth player in major league history to hit 50 homers four times after Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. He won his first AL batting title, hitting a big league-best .331 with 53 homers, 114 RBIs, an AL-high 124 walks and a major league-leading 1.144 OPS. Then in the playoffs, he went 13 for 36 with one homer, seven RBIs and a 1.273 OPS.<\/p>\n

New York, seeking its first title since 2009, retained centre fielder Trent Grisham early in the off-season but didn\u2019t make bigger moves until late.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s sign these guys right now and start adding more pieces because I\u2019m seeing other teams around the league get better,\u201d Judge said. \u201cThey\u2019re making trades. They\u2019re signing big prospects or big players. And we\u2019re sitting there for a while kind of making smaller moves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether he made his thoughts known to the Yankees, Judge flashed a toothy grin and said: \u201cYeah, oh, yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s late moves involved re-signing Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt. The Yankees also acquired left-hander Ryan Weathers from Miami in a trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was frustrating, but I think we\u2019re right where we need to be,\u201d Judge said.<\/p>\n

Judge appeared to clear Steinbrenner Field in left on a 99.3 mph from Lagrange (pronounced La-GRAN-he).<\/p>\n

\u201cWas so far,\u201d Lagrange said in amazement.<\/p>\n

Judge later struck out on a 102.6 mph fastball from the 6-foot-7 right-hander, and praised \u201chis personality and presence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s impressive. I\u2019ve seen a lot of videos, I\u2019ve heard a lot of stories about him over the years,\u201d Judge said. \u201cHe came right after us and that\u2019s what you need if you\u2019re going to play in the Bronx, you\u2019re going to play in New York. You got to have that demeanour, that it doesn\u2019t matter who\u2019s in front of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lagrange was promoted to Double-A Somerset last June and went 7-6 with a 3.22 ERA in 15 starts and one relief appearance, striking out 104 and walking 50 in 78 1\/3 innings. He has been working to improve his control.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s done a lot of the little things behind the scenes where he\u2019s cleaned up his work and controlling the running game,\u201d Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, \u201cHe\u2019s shown to be a leader. Really love his makeup on top of obviously what is a really big arm.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: New York Yankee Aaron Judge takes live batting practice during a spring training…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,462,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-479720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-mlb","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}