12:44PM: Judge discussed his injury with Hoch (Twitter links) and other reporters, saying “It’s not going to be perfect here in a couple of weeks. Once we can manage the pain, we’re going to be in a good spot….I don’t think too many people in here have torn a ligament in their toe. If it was a quad, we’d have a better answer. If it’s an oblique or hamstring, we have answers and a timeline for that. With how unique this injury is, and it being my back foot, which I push off of and run off of, it’s a tough spot.”
12:26PM: Aaron Judge suffered what was thought to be a sprained right big toe and a bruise when he crashed into the concrete support beam under the Dodger Stadium right-field bullpen door on June 3, while making a spectacular catch. Judge hasn’t played since, and while he has reportedly been making steady progress in his recovery, Yankees manager Aaron Boone was non-committal about predicting when Judge might return.
Another detail has now come from Judge himself, who told reporters (including Newsday’s Erik Boland and The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner) that his injury included a torn toe ligament, not just a sprain. Judge is still feeling pain when he walks, and while he might be starting some limited baseball-related activities soon, he won’t yet be able to run until he can at least walk without discomfort.
While this is new information to the public, it obviously isn’t a surprise to the team, so it isn’t clear if this materially changes whatever very loose timeline might be in place for Judge to return to New York’s lineup. Boone suggested that Judge could get back to action before the All-Star break, and that might appear to be a best-case scenario given how relatively far away Judge seems to be from truly ramping up his rehab work.
Speaking with MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch and other reporters today, Boone said he believes Judge will be back before the end of the 2023 season, though he didn’t guarantee it. As ominous as this sounds, Boone may have been holding back on linguistic grounds (since a guarantee is “an absolute. I can’t say that about anyone.”) rather than out of genuine concern over a truly long-term injury to the reigning AL MVP. That said, it is certainly disconcerting that there’s even a slim chance Judge’s toe injury might bring a premature end to his season.
The Yankees have a mediocre 6-10 record since Judge’s last game, with a league-worst 66 wRC+. Considering that severe lack of offense, a 6-10 record might actually be an achievement, and the Yankees have remained in a wild card spot due to some struggles from other AL playoff contenders. Needless to say, New York’s chances of staying in the playoff race will be heavily diminished if Judge can’t get back to the field soon, given his outsized role in carrying the Yankee lineup.
Good thing he’s not injury prone.
A fluke injury does not equal injury prone
You’re both wrong. Judge is still injury-prone regardless of it having nothing to do with this injury specifically
Injured yearly = injury prone even if it’s “fluke “ one.
Stanton have base hit today !!!!,tomorrow get Hurt o been sit by Boone
Not flukish.
Judge injured an oblique a couple of years ago diving for a ball.
He said he would stop doing such things.
Now he ran full speed through a wall.
Doesn’t seem flukish.
“A” fluke injury isn’t injury prone… A guy that gets multiple various injuries is injury prone.
That little padding flap will be called the “Judge Pad”.
What padding flat are you talking about?
““He actually broke through where some of the panels were joined, the barrier between the two connecting panels,” Kasten told The Athletic. “Which is unbelievable. But we’re going to strengthen that and add a strip of padding on the bottom as well.””
sports.yahoo.com/dodgers-add-padding-fence-yankees…
A fluke injury doesn’t make a player injury prone. A player regularly having injuries, fluke or any other kind, makes a player injury prone. Judge qualifies.
He was pulled out of danger by a Toe truck
If this were Mike Trout, everyone would be calling “injury prone.” Judge is heading down that road.
Did you not read the comments already?
He’s missed less than 5 games in a season exactly never.
Starting to think the Yankee Doctors and Medical staff are quacks.
It took long enough for you to come to that conclusion.
See you next year Aaron.
Wow! I can’t remember seeing a Yankees offense this bad in a long time. Add to that to the sky high payroll and this season will be an absolute failure.
Can’t argue with you there. They’re playing awful baseball.
I don’t wish an injury to anyone, but it’s amazing how much the Yankees rely on one guy. With other teams who have a lot of injuries, other players pick up for them. I know Judge is the reigning MVP and hit 62 HRs last year, but a team that relies on one guy so heavily and can’t get past it is in big trouble. I would love for the Yankees to not make the PO’s. I’d like to see new teams get in.
Don’t worry, now we have McKinney to pick up the slack
Injuries happen everywhere. And there’s a reason most of these guys play the outfield. It’s because they can’t cut it in the infield defensively.
Too much juice flowing through the veins. The bones and muscles can no longer take the abuse they put their body through after decades of juicing since high school. This is the reason they look 40 when they’re mid 20s.
Trying to figure out the math here…”after decades of juicing since high school”…and they are in their twenties? Hmm. Maybe decade has a different meaning to you? In today’s world, everything is relative, even time I guess.
(If you have proof that any of these guys were “juicing”, please share.)
I think your screen name explains everything.
Now THAT’S funny! LOL
You do know, don’t you, that they’ve had blood doping in MLB for over 10 years now?
We need designated fielders so these guys don’t get hurt running the bas….err playing outfield.
(Rickey disapproves of this post.)
This play was at the wall and no having to track down a ball does not make it a low IQ play. If playing OF was as easy as just going out there and being a high IQ fielder and casually catching the ball, there’d b teams having 0 hits to OF for an entire season, which obviously is not the case.
Outfield is an expansive part of the field and occasionally what seems like a gap hit or a ball the will drop in shallow a player gets a good bead on and can make an amazing play.
Judging by your comment you have never played OF other than maybe in Little League. Anyone who is even remotely familiar with playing the OF knows exactly what I described above. What you described is a false assumption based off of a fan of following statistics not the game….
Way more monster contracts end up being failures than successes.. especially for hitters. Not sure why teams keep handing them out.. I love the way the Rays play – it just seems like smarter baseball..
Bc the risks are worth the reward for the successful ones. Surplus value upfront, deficit in the backend.
These massive contracts are not just about on field performance. It is about putting a face to and star power behind a billion $ franchise. MLB is a business and their business is the sport.
I understand the Rays comment – but when was the last time they won a World Series based in their model. They groom amazing players that help other teams win World Series. That is not necessarily the best business model.
That concrete thing at Dodgers stadium needs to go
This is a fluke injury not a conditioning issue. Poor guy slammed his foot into a brick divider. Go outside, run full speed towards your curb and kick it at full force. Then tell me how you fare….
Just did, foot feels fine. Judge needs to toughen up is the conclusion you force me to come to.
I actually feel a lot better. Thanks. Must have been some minor dislocation in one of my toes but now I could run a marathon.
I actually did this drunk running home one night in college – jammed my toe into a curb and did a couple summersaults. It took a solid 6 months for the base of my big toe to feel semi-normal again.
I did it at the 23km mark of a 100km cross country ultramarathon. Downhill section and slammed a tree root. Battled my way to the 81km mark before sitting down and having a really good cry. It was quite the ordeal.
You ultramarathon types are next level.
I was back then. Softened up a bit with age. Fair to say I learnt a bit about myself over that 14hours and 40minutes.
The great American and my inspiration, Dean Karnazes, was also running in that race. No way I wasn’t finishing.
Dean Karnazes is kind of a self promotion machine. Virtually all ultra runners are not about drawing attention to themselves. But I’m glad you were inspired, that’s a good thing.
I prefer the mini micro marathon to the bathroom at night
@Stan Papi I’ve been following your career for years. Your performance in the 1997 mini micro marathon inspired millions.
A big man with a big toe…
…runs into a bar.
“Ouch.”
The bigger the feet….the longer the IL stint.
Nice of the Yankees to share this sooner, nobody would ever accuse them of transparency, that’s for sure
ToeGate
That’s a shame not only for the Yankees but MLB in general
Why is it a shame for MLB? Most baseball fans don’t like the Yankees and couldn’t care less that he’s injured again (yes I know it’s a freak injury, but it is still yet another injury)
Aer the majority of commenters on here in middle school?
On the internet in general? Yes.
Matt Berry’s prescient “never hustle” mantra holds up decades later.
Dr. Aaron Boone is slow; it takes him 2 weeks+ to give an accurate injury diagnosis.
Wish he’d take that same approach with umpires instead of the crybaby temper tantrums, he’s so quick with those.
Boone totally stages those confrontations with umps. Total performance art, it’s all an act. Like the World Wrestling Federation.
It takes him two weeks to utter a coherent word or sentence, in gact I am still waiting for one.
Whelp, speaking from personal experience with turf toe injury, it is a suckfest of pain, hard to heal, and easy to re-injure. Sprained ligament is a torn ligament, measured in degrees of severity, and from the sounds of it, Judge’s is bad. This will be with him in some form the rest of the season. So question for Yanks and Judge is do they want him back, with cautions, at like 70%, or do they want to try to get closer to 90%, and have to wait longer? His power ability will be affected if he cant push off at full strength, so this is a season-defining problem for them. A real bummer. I almost feel badly for them. Almost……
I’d say tape the toe up and let him DH and run like David Ortiz. I’d be surprised if he can even get back to 85% this season with full rest. It’s going to need a full offseason to heal. The offense is so pathetically bad right now.
This is the perfect season for the Yankees to become sellers at the deadline. They could get good prospect capital for Torres, Severino, and Holmes. Maybe even give one or two of them away if somebody is willing to take on all of DJLM’s contract.
This team needs to reset with younger, more athletic players.
they have a month to evaluate what to realistically expect from judge severino rodon cortes stanton. it would take a worst-case scenario for them to sell, even selectively
Do you trust them to evaluate anything accurately or correctly, I certainly do not, based on their history of inept dealmaking.
Called it day 1. I told you guys he was screwed. Ligaments almost never heal on their own
It is what it is. Have no problem having him sit out the rest of the season to ensure he’s as healthy as he can be come ’24. Might as well play Peraza and Florial. The rest of veterans have 4 more weeks to show that they can score runs. If not, flip Bader and Sevy (if he can straighten himself out).
But oh man, you’ve really gotta hope that this little-sized injury doesn’t come with a lingering out-sized effect on his future athleticism.
I’d like to know how past instances of this kind of injury have played out (to whatever extent they exist) in other athletes careers.
Dizzy Dean’s career was destroyed after a big toe injury.
Thanks George, Apparently, Dean’s toe was broken by a line drive comebacker.
Orthopedic docs are apt to be more advanced than they were 85 years ago and Judge isn’t a pitcher – so fingers crossed for one the sports best players ever.
A severe sprain and a torn ligament are the same thing I’m pretty sure. At least people use the term that way for ankles usually
The Yankees should be strategic sellers, not buyers. No one possibly available can replace Judge, nor can any three players brought in at high cost fix what ails them. They have to realize that,
I don’t see them selling. Gleyber, Trevino, Volpe, and Cabrera are the only position players with value. Holmes, King, and Maranaccio are going get them the most. The other bullpen guys won’t net much. Schmidt and Nestor can each fetch a good prospect. After that, they’re still left with unmoveable pieces like Stanton, DJL, Donaldson, Bader, and…. Judge. I’d say stand pat and just deal with it.
What could they even get back that would be useful to them, if they traded those guys anyway. No point to it. and Cabrera stinks, I don’t think anybody wants him anyway. And the market for relievers these days, I hear, it’s not as it was in the past so you’re not gonna get much back for them either, and we probably need the relievers anyway.
But the good news is, cashman has a built-in excuse now for why the Yankees stink, and why they will not make the postseason. But if they do miraculously, it will be in early exit, anyway. So that does not interest me. but I’m sure it’s worth another four year extension for Cashman
Nothing that moves the needle this season. My only hope is Rodon can pitch well for run prevention as this roster isn’t going to be out-slugging their opponents like in years’ past. Hal needs to really pour more of his profits into player scouting and development before MLB eventually puts the clamp on on off-field spending.
Great Googly Moogly
The Wrath and Revenge bof the Sgt Hulka Big Toe
Was hoping for a Sgt. Hulka reference. Thanks.
I didn’t realize how serious Judge’s big toe was
An incredible Hulka reference to be sure.
Over my head
Not to judge Judge, but Ronnie Lott would have chewed off that toe, legged out a triple and then stole home.
after snorting the foul line
judge is on a short list of players (ohtani acuna tatis jr degrom de la cruz carroll) who are so entertaining that every fan base should root for them to stay healthy
Even if they did, he’d still get injured. But they should have known that when they signed him.
Tatis is a cocky, selfish, uncoachable, bad base running cheater. If that’s “entertaining” I’ll pass.
all of that is true but i still enjoy watching him play
Tatis is one of the few raw talents in MLB and arguably the second most talented player in the NL after Acuña. r Would love to see him in Seattle’s lineup if they don’t land Ohtani. (Not that the Padres would ever deal him, but I guess I’m allowed a couple delusions of grandeur.)
Man, players nowadays are always injured and making millions. So weak!
Rodon still MIA too
@CravenMoorehead
Why would you show up to work if you’re guaranteed money?
Cashman is dumb enough to pay em so why not hahaha
I imagine when you weigh 280lbs managing pain in your feet, specifically your toes is easier said than done. Given the big contracts given and the injuries/struggles between Judge/Rodon/Correa Farhan looks like a genius for getting none of them all of a sudden
Let’s ask Tatis…oh, wait, he went from the infield to the outfield, there goes that theory.
Watch Hal parlay this injury into the reason the Yankees miss the playoffs. He knows the fans are dumb enough to buy it.
You are not wrong. They already had that excuse, prior to the judge injury. So now they can wrap it up even more
Never liked those low concrete based walls in both corners at Dodger Staduim –
I realize they want to keep history abound but gotta make it safer
Mookie almost ran thru it the other day as it comes hip high allowing players in the heat of the moment to want to risk major inj to make an out
Im surprised it hasn’t caused more injs so far
Good post! How true!
Cap & Crunch is always on point. Someone not to mute.
It seems that the “injury prone” players suffer these “fluke” injuries! But hope the Yankees took out insurance on the albatross of a contract!
At times u look at the yanks lineup pregame sans Judge and u think to yourself”Ok they swapped lineups with the A’s”
They had Willie Calhoun batting cleanup the other day
Dorf Calhoun could take a 58 ft pitch and it would be a strike at the knees.
And that was one of the better lineups over the last couple of weeks lol
Just as I predicted, the Yankees knew the extent of the injury, but held back the info from the fans and media just for the sake of ticket sales. The Yankees are nothing more than a Dog and Pony show.
Someone needs to step up and corral the young pups now that the big toe is out. That’s the fact Jack
And just think, he has eight more toes left he could injure, each for the next eight years of his contract . Awesome.
That you Dodgers for your Chavez Latrine stadium wrecking the season for Judge.
Thank you**
Other then Superman, we all get hurt. Let him heal! Plenty of other Talent on the Roaster! In the wildcard race. Could still make a run at the championship. Have a little patience for a change in New York.
Yes and that lack of talent is going to get roasted! Well said
They say Judge is the face of the franchise but no. Face takes up only 15% of the whole body. That guy is the whole body of the franchise.
Wrap it up and DH. For the amount he’s getting paid, he has the off-season to do surgery or let it heal. So what if he has clown boots on, most of his shots are over the wall anyway.
His contract will not age well. Big men always have issues. Whether real or fluke injuries, they will continue to happen until he’s hobbled on a daily basis. Hope he can muster a few good years moving forward.
Between Judge and Stanton they are paying about 69000000 for one full time player. They should have saved money for Ohtani.
Let’s not think about Donaldson at 3rd. Craig Nettles at 80 is a better hitter. Maybe Chad Curtis can break out of jail and play outfield. I think his monument is next.
So who will have a better record by the end of season. The Mets or the Yankees?
Yankees the Mets record is under 500 and around 7 games worse than the Yankees not sure I see that getting much better at this rate.
Judge missed a lot of time in 2018-20 before he was quite durable in 2021-22. Looks like he’s back to the bad old days. I have a feeling that his contract will age like fine milk. At age 31 most players don’t suddenly start staying healthier.
There’s noone tougher than Judge Judy. Noone.
I agree. Judge is 6’7 and hits endless bombs. That’s got first baseman wrote all over it !
LOLYankees!
Rodon, Judge, Correa…the Giants are closing in on first place in the NL West due to the front office avoiding those problem players and reaping the benefits of astute draft picks (Patrick Bailey!), and some of the flyers they took, like Conforto and Taylor Rogers. Half way through the season no other front office is looking smarter from what they did and even more from what they chose NOT to do in the off season.
The Giants did not avoid signing Judge. They were turned down by Judge.
Yes they did. Avoiding doesn’t have to mean an intentional move. They did avoid the burden of paying an injury-prone giraffe by his decision to sign elsewhere.
If that’s your definition, I bet you wish the Giants could’ve “avoided” signing Manea and Stripling
manaea has actually been solid out of the pen – we’ll see if stripling turns it around.
Looks like Judge gets his supplements from the same place as Stanton….
There is a certain delicious irony in the Yankees base coaches standing in the outfield when Error in Judgement gets the signal, but no one is standing in the outfield telling him to watch out. Maybe if they put their energy into player safety as much as player performance, that would be a wiser approach. Gretzky said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” I will borrow that and say, “You miss 100% of the games you don’t play.”
Steph – Funny you should talk about moving them from the OF to the IF, when Tatis recently moved from the IF to the OF for the exact same reason … to prevent injury.
I think it all depends on the individual player’s style of play. Some players, such as Jim Edmonds and Fred Lynn, played with reckless abandon and therefore paid the price for doing so.
Then you’ve got players like JD Drew who stayed mostly healthy because he stopped pursuing fly balls whenever he was within 20 feet of a wall.
I tore a ligament in my big toe. I didn’t let it rest like I should have took forever to heal maybe it’s quicker if he props his foot up and doesn’t do much
If this were the NFL and Judge was our all pro TE he would strap it up, shoot it up and he plays on Sunday.
MLB is a more nuanced game when it comes to pain mgmt. I think he’s done for the year. And with that, if I’m Cash…I’m open for business.