Aaron Judge’s massive postseason performance made it easy to forget he’s been dealing with a flexor strain in his right elbow since July. The slugger had multiple hits in all but one game across the first two rounds of the playoffs. Judge engineered a defining postseason moment in Game 3 against Toronto, smashing a game-tying homer off Louis Varland.
With the Yankees now headed into the offseason, Judge was asked about the plan for his ailing elbow. “We’ll definitely do some work on it and get it right,” Judge told reporters, including Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. When asked about surgery specifically, Judge remained noncommittal. “I’m not a doctor. I don’t know.”
The flexor strain forced Judge to the IL in late July. It was a minimum stint on the IL, but he was unable to play the field upon returning. Judge spent all of August at DH. He made it back to his familiar home in right field on September 5. Judge bounced between right field and DH for the final month of the season. In the playoffs, he played exclusively in the field, with Giancarlo Stanton manning the DH spot in all seven games.
Initial tests did not reveal any ulnar collateral ligament damage for Judge. His recovery from surgery to address the flexor strain, if he were to go that route, would not be as long as for a more serious elbow injury like a UCL tear.
Anthony Volpe was similarly tight-lipped about offseason surgery for his shoulder injury. “I anticipated playing another month and then reassessing then. So nothing’s [decided] … we’re going to figure it out,” Volpe told reporters, including Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.
Volpe partially tore the labrum in his shoulder back in May. He didn’t go on the IL with the injury, but his performance suffered. Volpe slashed a solid .237/.328/.456 through April. His numbers tumbled to .205/.255/.374 over the final five months of the season. Volpe got off to a strong start in the postseason, going 4-for-11 with a home run in the Wild Card round against Boston. He collapsed in the ALDS, managing just one hit in 15 at-bats. Volpe struck out 11 times in the four games against Toronto.
Depending on the severity of the tear, Volpe could elect surgery and still be ready for the 2026 season. Shohei Ohtani tore the labrum in his non-throwing shoulder during the World Series in 2024. He made it back in time for spring training this year.
While Volpe never hit the IL with the shoulder issue, he did miss time in mid-September after receiving a cortisone injection. Midseason acquisition Jose Caballero started six straight games at shortstop from September 10-15. Caballero receded to a bench role once Volpe was deemed healthy, but he did endear himself to Yankees fans with a walk-off single to clinch a postseason bid in the final week of the season. Caballero is under team control through 2029 and could factor into New York’s middle infield plans depending on the health of Volpe.
No matter what Judge and Volpe decide on the surgery front, they’ll definitely be back with the team next season. The same can’t be said for Cody Bellinger, who is facing a decision of his own. Bellinger can opt out of the final year of his current contract with the Yankees. He’d be leaving $25MM on the table in pursuit of a longer, potentially more lucrative deal in free agency.
Hoch passed along comments from Bellinger about the pending opt-out decision. As has been the theme with these Yankees, Bellinger didn’t say much. “Obviously, things to discuss with family and the agent and the business side of it all. But tonight, I’m just going to soak it all in and just be a part of the group one more time.”
Bellinger signed his current three-year, $80MM contract with the Cubs ahead of the 2024 season. He could’ve opted out of the deal this past offseason, but declined. Bellinger was then dealt to the Yankees. He slugged 29 home runs in his first year in pinstripes, his most since his 2019 NL MVP season. Bellinger also stayed healthy, topping 600 plate appearances for just the third time in his career. He’s widely expected to opt out of the final year of his deal.
The Yankees are a mess. Hopefully Volpe can find his way back to his rookie year but it doesn’t look good. Rice, Stanton and Dominquez are all DHs. They should try to deal Stanton’s contract for nothing if they can. Trade Dominjquez while he is valuable with controllable years. Make Rice the full time DH.
They could use a big bat to pair with Judge and try to get solid, all around guys like a Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius.
I don’t think Martinez or Brosius are available.
The Yankee won 94 games and tied for the best record in the AL despite injuries to several key players. They just happened to run into the team that had their number in the postseason. They’ll be very good next year as long as they shore up the bullpen this offseason
Ronk, the Yankees didn’t face all that much adversity (some, but every team faces some…only some deal with a lot), and with their resources it’s hard for them to not field a playoff team.
As they themselves have long made clear, it’s about rings, not playoff berths. And for the better part of a decade, they have been built much more for bullying weaker pitching during the regular season marathon than hitting playoff pitching.
The “mess” is that they have enough tied up to make it hard to rework this team-wide profile, so every year tends to set up more of the same. It’s not that they have the misfortune to run into the wrong team (they could have easily lost to Boston too), but rather that they need things to break right as they almost fully did last year to have a legit shot at going all the way.
Cole missed the whole season. Schmidt missed the majority of the season. Gil missed about 2/3 of the season and never looked right. Stanton missed the first 2.5 months. Jazz missed a month. Judge missed 2 weeks and labored through an elbow injury when he initially returned. All of those injuries plus the mess of the bullpen for a large portion of the season and still 94 wins. This is not the time to press the panic button. I expect the team to be much better next year
Well players in their 30s get hurt often and last year the AL was dreadful. I agree Yankees should be better next year because their SP could be the best in baseball. But if they don’t make adult decisions, like benching Volpe for the Caballero (.828 OPS as a Yankee), or create a more disciplined culture so you don’t get 2-run errors in the 8th inning of playoff games, they’ll keep losing. They parrot championships is all that matters but the culture says otherwise. Shame cause Aaron Judge is one of the best ever.
No way. They’re poorly constructed, too many errors, rely on the home run too much, poor choices around inserting bullpen pitchers. I’m normally an optimist but they squeaked past Boston then showed their flaws against Toronto.
I think they ran into a really good hitting team and a great manager. And they didn’t win the division so they started at a disadvantage. But they could be really strong next year if they shore up some gaps.
The Yankees are a “mess” in that they have a very “feast-or-famine” offense and are very sloppy defensively. The bullpen was also an issue (but that holds true for a lot of teams)
It’s sad when a team that is a mess wins 94 games. I agree. They should have won 160.
BTW, they are never dealing Stanton’s contract.
Rice a full time DH? The guy can catch and play first. He’s not the best, but he can do it.
Stanton has a full no trade clause but if he misses significant time in 2026 I can see Yankees release him with only 1 1/2 yrs on his contract as the Marlins on the hook for $30 million of last 3 yrs of that contract.
Stanton has blanket no trade. He’s not going anywhere.
Fans don’t understand that they think players just give up their rights and rip them up for the fun of it.
And Stanton is their 2nd best bat when he plays at this point he’s regained a ton of value
He still has massive negative value and would be a salary dump. He’s a DH who can’t run the bases.
If the Yankees are a mess, then many teams should just fold.
Contract the league to four teams! DFA the other 26 teams to AAAA. Problem solved for @Goose.
@Goose
Fans like you are maddening. What are you using to Judge Rice? He was a 3 War player with limited run this year. He ranked 9th among all 1b. Matt Olson takes 1st in Def W @ -4.2. Rice was 6th at -6.8. He ranked 6th. He was better than most. Stanton has a no-trade so he’s not going anywhere. Dominguez should be in CF but I don’t get why they insist on playing in LF. Beli can handle LF. What would you do with Grisham? Would you offer him the qualifying offer of $22 mil and she what he did next year or key him walk if he gets a multi year deal offer elsewhere?
Dominguez can he a star if they just leave him alone. I think we see Bellinger back and that’s it on the offensive side. Pitching need some bullpen arms. But Cashman isn’t going to do anything crazy.
Dominguez has to give up hitting right handed. He can’t hack it. I see starter but not star for him. He also doesn’t play good defense.
This is accurate.
Until I see him play his natural CF position it’s unfair to say his defense sucks as he never played LF in his life!
Bellinger’s response to the opt out question is a sign of maturity. Class.
Complete opposite of Pete Alonso. Trash 🗑️ bag!
… exactly what I was thinking, Dan.
I got roasted in the Alonso article for saying this.
Yanks: I, too, was lectured on this matter. Seems simple to me – Bellinger handled it well. As did Story & Bregman.
It’s all good. Emotions were still running high for Mets fans when the article was posted right after elimination.
This was a disappointing season, obviously, but I don’t think there need to be any massive changes. Cashman had a fantastic off-season and had some gem pickups like Fried, Beli, Goldy and bringing back Grisham. He avoided disasters like Burns, Walker, Santander, Teoscar and Arrenado. Devin Williams was a disaster but I can’t knock him for that because the guy was elite the previous 3 seasons and didn’t appear to be injured this year. The rookies he retained seem to be budding stars like Rice and Dominguez. Schlittler came around early. Warren was a serviceable starter that tied for most starts. Spencer Jones, Elmer Cruz and Carlos Lagrange look like prospects a year or so from being ready to contribute or could be trade bait for someone hopefully of star level quality. We definitely need to see improvements from Dominguez defensively and Volpe and Wells offensively but in not willing to move on from any of them unless we’re replacing them with a guaranteed star under the age of 30 that we will control for at least 3 years. 3b is still upgradeable, although we have Ryan M there. The bullpen needs work, including a bonafide closer. It seems Williams might have been at odds with the team over pitch usage. Cashman built a team that could’ve gone much deeper into the playoffs if guys did their job. Boone isn’t the best, but I don’t think he is the issue keeping us from winning it all. It’ll be interesting to see what choices the Yanks make in Goldy, Beli and Grisham. I generally get nervous when guys have great bounce back years in their walk year. Both Grish and Beli will want or command multi year deals. Do you block the development of Dominguez? He’s young enough to hold on to him until Stanton walks in a couple of years. It would be nice to have him around for the inevitable injury that’ll come around frome someone. What would you prioritize?
I agree with everything you said other than Boone. Why are we putting in Williams in a huge spot with our season on the line? Idc if it’s the 7th, he had to go to Bednar it was the biggest moment of the game. He is detrimental to the team and would love to see him go, but I won’t keep that dream alive cause he’s not going anywhere. I would not re-sign Grisham, would re-sign Belli and roll with Dominguez in LF. Tell him he’d better work his a$$ off over the offseason to improve on defense. If not, Spencer Jones is lurking or include him in a trade for an impact contributor
Williams had turned it around since the end of season and postseason. The only reliable relievers were Hill, Williams, and Bednar in the postseason.
Jones is coming and taking one of the OF spots with or without Belli returning guaranteed. Dominguez has a spot as 4th OF if Belli returns but I would seek a trade if it brings back someone impactful.
Maybe in the second half of ’26 or ’27. No way to plan on Jones breaking camp for ST. He’s simply not ready.
Volpe did not endear himself to us with that one hit
Did anyone else see the video of Yankees’ fans throwing plastic bottles and stuff at vlad’s family? Also they didn’t change the Jumbotron for the winner’s picture like sore losers. Hard to tout the prestige of the franchise when it acts so trashy.
Devolved/regressive characteristic of post 90’s Skankee fans.
NY fans love to rip on Philly fans, especially the throwing snowballs at Santa and throwing batteries incidents from like 50 years ago, but Yankee fans of the last 10 years or so are their torch bearers.
Can Caballero play CF? I think that’s an important question. Re-signing Bellinger to be the long term CF seems like a mistake. If they trade Rice to a team like the Reds for some pitching and move Judge to 1B, signing Bellinger to play RF makes sense. But maybe signing Tucker works there too.
@Don
I don’t think the Yanks need pitching. Cole should be back next year, and as long as he is healthy, then you have to play him. Fried and Rondon, make 3. Then you have Gil, Warren, Schlittler, and eventually Schmidt. There’s no need to move Judge to first yet. Stanton is done in 2 to 3 years, so Judge could just become the full-time DH if needed.
I agree with your specific points, but everybody needs pitching. Judge is an amazing athlete and has held up well in the field, but that elbow bothers me. It’s better that he move to 1B a year too soon than a year too late. The entire roster looks different without Judge hitting in the middle of the lineup.
He’s played decent outfield in the limited work he’s gotten. I’m sure he could adapt if given a full offseason of work. His arm in the infield is good but not sure how that will translate to the outfield.
They should keep Rice and move him to catcher. Can trade Wells if needed.
The Yankees could maybe trade for Alek Thomas. He and Caballero could platoon in CF. That would provide good defense for little cost. Thomas might also break out in Yankee Stadium. No matter what, they need an under 30 solution in CF if they’re serious about playing better defense.
Bringing back Grisham is a must. Nobody else is viable in CF, defensively.
If they bring him back, the facial hair policy has to come back as well. Trent looks like he isn’t allowed within a mile of any schools
Well… As a Red Sox fan, the only “mess” I see here is a bunch of disgruntled “fans” complaining about one of the greatest franchises in sports history. I get it… You haven’t win a WS in awhile, but come on, people. The Yankees are as committed to winning as much, or more, as any team in MLB. Red Sox fans have suffered through much more and are still very loyal and equally hopeful. Hold your chins up. At least you are not Phillies fans.
Calling a 237 batting average solid is ludicrous.
The leaguewide batting average was .246. Solid is appropriate for any player.
Phillies choked. Now I do not care who wins as long as it is NOT the buy a team Dodgers.
“slashed a solid .237”
So, it has come to this, has it?
Times have changed….Dylan has esp!
Resign Belli if it’s not a crazy over pay. Let Trent and Goldy bounce. Bring up Spencer and send Gil to the pen. Get a relief pitcher or two and run it back next year!
Let clay and Trent go
We got jones and the Martian
That ain’t bad at all !!!