from CBS Sports:
***
My thoughts...
(1) Disaster. If Judge is hurt, for any sustained time, this is a disaster. (UPDATE from MLBTR- The Yankees are saying the MRI came back clean.)
(2) If Judge and Cole are hurt for any sustained period, we can kiss 2024 goodbye. It's over.
(3) Aaron Judge is a superstar. He's great. He's the great Yankee of this era. He's also fragile. When I mention this, I get a lot of push back. But facts are facts. Judge has played 148 or more games in a season only three times. Judge missed significant time in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2023. In 2020, he would have missed a ton more time, but the games were cancelled due to Covid. People forget that. He was hurt the whole time that baseball was shut down. There was and is no reason to think that as he ages, he'll get healthier and stronger. This is why it made and makes no sense to put this player in a position (centerfield) that requires a great deal of running as compared to the position he has played throughout most of his career (right field). The man is aging and he doesn't have the greatest track record of health. He didn't even make it through Spring Training without an injury concern.
(4) As of yesterday, the Yankees' talking point was that "he's just resting." This was all supposed to be normal. The Yankees are very rarely honest when it comes to reporting injuries. Very rarely. This has been the case for many years - many many years. For me, I'd prefer the Yankees say nothing than to make statements that turn out to be untrue. While the Yankees were saying it's nothing, Judge was going for an MRI. It's a bad look.
(5) Last year, against all reason, the Yankees rushed Judge back, even though he wasn't 100%. They're paying the price for that right now. As reported on MLBTR, Judge noted that his mechanics have been messed up (because of the toe) and that he's "working on things." At best, he's not where he should be and where he needs to be. Judge batted only .245 after coming back from the injury last year. It seems to me that the Yankees should be concerned - even with the good news.
(6) Even if Aaron Judge is fine, this is troubling and concerning. It's March and he doesn't feel great - bad enough to get an MRI. Maybe he'll be great and there is no and will be no injury concern. I, for one, don't believe it. The wear and tear of the season hasn't yet come. Even though we're hearing that the news is good, I am very sceptical.
Nothing to worry about, Paul. The diagnosis, according to what the reports on Judge were saying yesterday, is a "sore core". I looked it up (since I am not a doctor), and a sore core just means that when Judge was working out, he overdid it. So all Judge has to do is NOT work out for a few days, and then take it easier when he does return to working out, in order to prevent future "sore cores".
The toe is a bigger concern. Last season, by the time Judge was returned to the lineup, the damage was already done to the Yankees season, and it was more obvious that the Yankees were not going to have much o…
When it comes to injuries, Cashman has the Yankees lie. It's a proven fact. What scares me most about Judge and Cole, is that I have zero faith in the medical staff, especially whoever ultimately decides that a guy can be activated. just look at Cortes last year, same type of injury as Cole. If Judge & Cole have to miss that first road trip, so be it. For Judge, to bad one of those series is not in Tampa, a field Judge hates to play on.
Judge is basically saying that the injury is from swinging “every day” since November.
Some of us old timers complain about fewer injuries “back in the day”. I’ve always perceived that the year round training is a more modern day development.
Do players need to rest a bit in the off-season?
Paul: Save your breath. For some reason people refuse to acknowledge Judge's injury history nor the fact that a 285 lb. human being at 32 years old, playing a 162 game schedule is at risk for physical problems. I wish they had handed him a first baseman's mitt and traded Rizzo for pitching.
even more than COVID vaccinations, MRIs are a leading COD among pro athletes.
them dang Yankees are killing the team by subjecting the players to medical meddling.
medical pampering, excessive imaging and a corrupting level of concern is too often a precursor to morbid naval gazing and a team terrorized by management dead-set on bringing in the Munchausen-by-proxy
let's just rub some dirt on them boys and not be worrying em to death