Can\u2019t happen. And the Yankees are right to try to prevent it from happening, even though Judge is pushing back out of his sheer and natural desire to play.<\/p>\n
Judge should not have been surprised the team removed him early. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he told Judge it probably would happen. The disconnect was notable. Teams and their star players usually are more aligned. But the tension, if it can even be called that, had been building.<\/p>\n
The need for Judge to get back into playing condition \u2014 get his legs under him, to use the common terminology \u2014 is why some Yankees officials surely preferred him to go on a rehabilitation assignment.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also why, after Judge balked at playing in minor-league games<\/a>, not wanting to \u201cwaste\u201d at-bats, the club wants him to build up in a steady progression at the major-league level.<\/p>\n Judge is balking at that, too. He wants to play. He also wants things his way, as star players often do. But if the worst-case scenario should occur, who would take the heat?<\/p>\n Not Judge, who, as the Yankees\u2019 captain, likely would take accountability in his usual fashion and draw praise for trying to help his team. No, it\u2019s the Yankees\u2019 brass \u2014 general manager Brian Cashman, Boone and company \u2014 who would be ripped for failing to protect Judge from himself. And perhaps for building a team so reliant on one player, though it\u2019s hard not to be overly reliant on one of the best right-handed hitters in major-league history<\/a>.<\/p>\n Those are not the Yankees\u2019 motivations for wanting to proceed with caution. Or at least, they shouldn\u2019t be. The only concern should be getting Judge back to peak form by the postseason. Even the American League East race is secondary, particularly with the Yankees\u2019 odds of overtaking the Tampa Bay Rays, per FanGraphs, at only 15.2 percent.<\/p>\n So, the question is: What is the best approach for the Yankees to take with Judge? And the answer, as is almost always the case in return-to-play scenarios, is no one knows for sure.<\/p>\n \n Judge missed more than three months with a fractured rib. He returned to the Yankees on Tuesday but said he was \u201cnot happy\u201d about playing only six innings. (Vincent Carchietta \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n The risk of Judge straining a leg or side muscle seemingly would be greater if he pushes too hard. But even when players and teams exercise what seems like sufficient caution, freak things happen.<\/p>\n Last season, the Houston Astros\u2019 Yordan Alvarez missed 100 games with a broken bone in his right hand, one more than Judge did with his fractured rib. After a four-game rehab assignment, Alvarez had a 1.031 OPS in his first 19 games back. And then, while running the bases, he suffered a sprained left ankle that sidelined him for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n You can\u2019t put players in bubble wrap. Many star players resist rehab assignments; the New York Mets\u2019 Juan Soto was another recent example. And Boone, speaking to reporters before Tuesday\u2019s game, seemed to indicate Judge was practically a full go.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s done everything and maybe even more to be ready to now play,\u201d Boone said. \u201cObviously, he\u2019s not doing a rehab assignment, where he would build up even more. But no, he\u2019s done everything, I feel like, and then some, to be ready to go play.\u201d<\/p>\n So, why not just play him in full games right away?<\/p>\n Judge can point to 2023, when he missed nearly two months with a toe injury and then produced a .965 OPS in his final 57 games without a rehab assignment. The difference then was that he served as the designated hitter for five of his first six games back and about half of them overall. This time, the Yankees face something of a DH glut, and intend to play him mostly in right field.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-09-09T021556Z_689956917_MT1USATODAY29768820_RTRMADP_3_MLB-COLORADO-ROCKIES-AT-NEW-YORK-YANKEES-.jpeg\")
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