Things went from bad to worse for the struggling New York Yankees on the first day of May.
Per Mark W. Sanchez of the New York Post and Max Goodman of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, the Yankees have placed slugger Aaron Judge on the 10-day injured list retroactive to April 28 due to a right hip strain. Judge will miss the home series against the Cleveland Guardians that began on Monday night and the subsequent series at the first-place Tampa Bay Rays.
The reigning American League MVP will be eligible to return on May 8 against the woeful Oakland Athletics, but it’s unclear if he’ll be ready to play by that Monday evening.
Judge appeared to injure himself while sliding during last Wednesday’s 12-6 victory at the Minnesota Twins, but nevertheless started what became Thursday’s 4-2 win at the Texas Rangers. However, the 31-year-old exited that contest with discomfort and hasn’t played since.
Without Judge, the Yankees lost three straight games in Texas to fall to 15-14 on the season. To compare, Tampa Bay began Monday evening at 23-6.
“I think we’ve known that it’s a minor thing, but the scary part is the risk, which we’re weighing,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said about Judge before the four-time All-Star selection landed on the IL. “We don’t want to put him in a position to where he goes out and compromises somewhere else and the injury becomes something else or worse. That’s the biggest thing. He’s feeling pretty good and his recovery has been good each and every day and the injury is minor, but we’re playing the long game here.”
Judge is slashing .261/.352/.511 with six home runs and 14 RBI across 26 games on the season. Outfielder Franchy Cordero was recalled from the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders to fill the open roster spot, but Cordero or any other single player cannot adequately replace what Judge offers the Yankees as an all-around player and captain.
