Nobody can even make a realistic guess how long Aaron Judge might be out with his toe injury, and that’s a scary prospect. Especially if you’ve been paying attention to what’s going on without him.
No team is more dependent on one player than the Yankees are on their all-everything captain, Judge. I include the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani in this statement, too, even though he is actually two players.
One scout sent a three-word text he felt sums up what he sees with the Yankees: “Bad without Judge.”
It’s actually a little more complicated than that — and maybe just a little more positive, as well, especially after the Yankees scratched out a 3-1 victory sans Judge over the rival Red Sox on Saturday in The Bronx. And you have to know that it takes more than three words to describe exactly what’s going on. (They give me 850, and I usually leave stuff out.)
The problem of Judge’s absence is palpable, and felt throughout the organization, although it’s most evident in the clubhouse since those guys have to compensate for the irreplaceable. They miss him, probably even more than the fans.
“He’s a 70-homer threat, and that’s legit,” Gerrit Cole said. “He’s that good.”
We know he can hit 62, as he did in his record-setting 2022 season, and they believe him when he says he missed a few and suggests he could do even more. I do, too.
They just hope Judge crashing into the fence at Dodger Stadium while making a spectacular grab last weekend won’t end up being the defining moment of the season. But they worry.
“Maybe he shouldn’t have caught that ball,” one teammate said, flat out.
When I suggested to Judge before the game against the Red Sox that maybe he’s too valuable to tangle with walls that are made of steel and concrete and who knows what else, Judge responded that he’s much better about it now than he was in his rookie season, when he recalled crashing into fences quite frequently. But let’s face it, the man is not only the best hitter and best position player in the game, he’s the ultimate competitor. If there’s a ball he thinks he can catch, he isn’t about to let it fall.
As for when we will see him again, Judge told me he has no idea. Neither does anyone else, really. One Yankees decisionmaker guessed, rather hopefully, that he might miss only two weeks. But that sounded more like wishful thinking than anything based off his medical chart.
They have to hope it isn’t too long, as without Judge they are a shadow of the team with Judge. A shadow or a shell, either way. They just aren’t the same.
“We’ve got to find different ways to win. We miss our captain. But at the same time we have to deal with the blow,” said Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who scored the final insurance run after he singled as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning. “We definitely miss him. But at the same time, we believe in ourselves.”
The Yankees caught a break Saturday, at least we thought it was a break, when the Red Sox sent to the mound Tanner Houck, a right-hander who hadn’t won a game since April 20 and was toting a 5-plus ERA. And yet he had the upper hand on the Yankees’ makeshift lineup early.
If that was a surprise, it shouldn’t have been. They’d scored just 12 runs in the four games since Judge fought the wall at Chavez Ravine.
One thing has become clear: They will need to rely on a pitching staff that’s also shorthanded while the lineup is missing its main attraction and most productive player. At least there’s good news there.
Even without Nestor Cortes and Carlos Rodon (he does exist, I promise!), the staff looks as good as ever. They are fifth in MLB with a 3.65 ERA, and trending downward, which is a tribute to their depth and perhaps also their unheralded pitching coach Matt Blake.
They need brilliance from their pitchers now, and Domingo German delivered again Saturday. The No. 5 starter, with a rap sheet that includes a couple of warnings over having sticky fingers, and one ban, continues to be better with clean hands (and presumably a clean conscience). While he didn’t have any clean innings, perhaps he’s realizing he can succeed on his own, a positive development.
Anyway, German is better since going straight, and this time he allowed the Red Sox only one run over six innings, on a solo homer to straightaway center field by star Rafael Devers, who does this to much better pitchers (look away, Gerrit).
In the meantime, Yankees hitters did enough, with solo homers from Gleyber Torres and Willie Calhoun — both onto the short porch — and a run-scoring infield single from Kyle Higashioka providing the offense. The Yankees improved to 3-3 during Judge’s latest stay on the injured list. They are averaging exactly three runs a game during Judge’s recent absence. But if they can pitch like this, maybe they can stay relevant and in the race until their Superman returns.
