{"id":729479,"date":"2026-06-11T09:25:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T09:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/729479\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T09:25:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T09:25:27","slug":"yankees-takeaways-winning-without-judge-weathers-in-relief-near-disaster-in-outfield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/729479\/","title":{"rendered":"Yankees takeaways: Winning without Judge, Weathers in relief, near disaster in outfield"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND \u2014 Aaron Judge? Who needs him?<\/p>\n

In all seriousness, the New York Yankees can\u2019t wait to get Judge, maybe the best player in baseball, back in the lineup. But with a sweep of the Cleveland Guardians \u2014 finished with an 8-4 win<\/a> Wednesday at Progressive Field \u2014 they showed that life without Judge doesn\u2019t have to be all anxiety and white knuckles.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, we miss our (captain),\u201d second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. said. \u201cWe miss the best player in the league. But at the end of the day, we have a lot of talented players. I don\u2019t think you can win with just one guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Yankees are 5-3 since Judge last played on May 31. He\u2019s been on the injured list since Friday after doctors diagnosed him with a stress fracture in his right first rib<\/a>. The three-time American League MVP could be out for two months or more.<\/p>\n

This series, the Yankees received key contributions from just about everybody on their roster. They hope it shows they\u2019ll be able to at least tread water without Judge. Entering this season, they were 130-108 (.546) when Judge was out of the lineup since his first full season in 2017.<\/p>\n

With Wednesday\u2019s win, they improved to 41-26 this season, remaining tied for first place in the AL East with the Tampa Bay Rays (40-25). The Yankees are off Thursday before beginning a road series Friday with the Toronto Blue Jays, another division foe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always felt like we\u2019ve had a really good team,\u201d manager Aaron Boone said. \u201cYou take the best player in the world out, that\u2019s going to have an impact. But we have people capable of stepping in and doing their job, and they have done a good job of that the last few days. Again, these series are great because, obviously, you pick up three wins, which is huge. You take wins whenever you can get them. But with having seemingly the entire roster really contributing in meaningful ways in winning scenarios, you love that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge didn\u2019t have a locker in the visitors clubhouse this week. It\u2019s unclear if he\u2019ll travel to Toronto.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the Yankees used every player on their roster except reliever Fernando Cruz in a 7-5 win<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, highlights included Cruz working a 25-pitch ninth inning for his first save of the season, top outfield prospect Spencer Jones hitting his first career home run<\/a> and Chisholm\u2019s eighth-inning solo shot that provided the go-ahead run for a 3-2 win.<\/p>\n

And on Wednesday, 38-year-old Paul Goldschmidt went 2-for-4 with a walk, Trent Grisham continued his hot stretch, going 2-for-4 with a triple \u2014 and an incredible head-first slide to score in the sixth on Jos\u00e9 Caballero\u2019s sacrifice fly. Plus, starting pitcher Carlos Rod\u00f3n helped an overworked bullpen by going six innings (three earned runs).<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a really outstanding series against a team that I think is really good over there in the Guardians,\u201d Boone said.<\/p>\n

Chisholm said when Judge is healthy, the Yankees are \u201ctrying to help him more than anything.\u201d With him on the IL, Chisholm said, \u201cwe\u2019ve all got to do our own part and try to be our best to make up for what we\u2019re missing with him out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan Weathers, reliever?\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Ryan Weathers was available out of the bullpen but wasn\u2019t called upon as Carlos Rod\u00f3n, above, allowed three runs in six innings with seven strikeouts. (Jason Miller \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Weathers warmed up in the bullpen in the fourth inning as Rod\u00f3n struggled. It was an odd sight. Weathers was slated to start Friday against the Blue Jays, and he\u2019s been a key member of the rotation.<\/p>\n

The Yankees didn\u2019t end up using him. Rod\u00f3n needed just nine pitches to get through the fifth inning and worked a 1-2-3 sixth.<\/p>\n

What was the plan? Boone said the Yankees were willing to use Weathers as a bulk reliever \u2014 provided he was given a clean inning \u2014 if necessary. He hadn\u2019t pitched since June 5 and was fresh.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was in play today,\u201d Boone said, \u201cwhich was awesome in and of itself. \u2026 He was ready for it and whatever we needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boone said the Yankees cleared the idea with Weathers late Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Weathers said he was happy to do it, especially knowing how hard the bullpen had been worked in recent days. He was also mindful of how the Yankees value having fresh arms in their bullpen and that if one of them were to get overworked, that reliever might face a demotion to Triple A.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve done so much for us,\u201d Weathers said.<\/p>\n

Near disaster\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Center fielder Trent Grisham and right fielder Jos\u00e9 Caballero collide on a fly ball in the first inning. (Ken Blaze \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

In the first inning, center fielder Grisham and Caballero, playing right field, collided<\/a> on Stuart Fairchild\u2019s two-out fly to deep right-center field. Grisham caught it, but not before Caballero accidentally hit him in the face with his mitt. Then Grisham crashed his face into the wall.<\/p>\n

Grisham called for it much of the way, but Caballero \u2014 still new to playing right field \u2014 didn\u2019t hear him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a learning process,\u201d Caballero said. \u201cI\u2019m getting to know the range of everyone out there, and I\u2019ll just try to be better the next time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grisham said he was \u201cfine\u201d after the play.<\/p>\n

Caballero was playing in right field with Anthony Volpe at shortstop. The Yankees seem to value the ability to play Volpe at shortstop while still using Caballero\u2019s defensive versatility.<\/p>\n

Caballero has played 41 career games in right field, including four this season. He was the Yankees\u2019 starting shortstop for approximately the first month and a half of the season with Volpe on the IL. But since May 22, when Caballero came off a short IL stint, he has started at shortstop just five times compared with 11 starts for Volpe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND \u2014 Aaron Judge? Who needs him? In all seriousness, the New York Yankees can\u2019t wait to get…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,3980,82],"class_list":["post-729479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729479","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=729479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}