Yankees Finally Learn Aaron Judge's Fate... Now What?
The Yankees finally have clarity on Aaron Judge's injury, but now comes the hard part... We discuss lineup changes, roster moves, trade deadline implications, and why a massive Yankees-Red Sox postponement may have arrived at the perfect time. Plus: Cam Schlittler continues to dominate Boston, the latest injury updates on Jasson Dominguez, Giancarlo Stanton, and Max Fried, and why the Red Sox's current collapse is becoming one of the biggest stories in baseball.
Video Transcript
Tune in, Yankees fans, to another episode of the Yanks Go Yard podcast.
I'm your host, Thomas Carante.
I'm here again with Chris Landers of Fancied.com.
He's filling in for Adam, um, over, um, Adam should be back relatively soon, maybe 2 weeks, maybe 3 weeks, who knows.
Um, we're a little delayed today, uh, because, um, my The street was barricaded cause Donald Trump was coming through on his way to New York to go to the Knicks game.
So, um, we had to deal with some, uh, uh, detours, but here we are, we're live, we got a light weekend to recap, but big Aaron Judge injury news.
I went live quickly last week when Um, the Yankees were kind of in the process of diagnosing and trying to get to the finish line with, um, the imaging, the various doctors' opinions and whatnot.
And then, of course, they dropped the update at 10:15 on a Thursday night, um, right before.
The series against the Red Sox, and it's not good.
And Chris and I are gonna talk about that, um, in addition to a multitude of other things that, um, are probably going to be heavily impactful on this roster, on the schedule moving forward with Judge out of the picture.
Um, so, once again, thank you guys for being here.
Don't forget, like and subscribe to the Yanks Go Yard YouTube channel.
Find us on all the podcast platforms, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get them.
Um, and thank you all for tuning in today.
We got a lot to get through.
Chris, how are you feeling with everything right now?
Um, I guess I'm feeling about as good as I can be feeling in a world in which Aaron Judge is gonna be out for at least a month and probably more.
Um, so, you know, not great, but I've, I've talked myself off the ledge a bit, and we're, we're doing OK . We're gonna get through it together.
Yeah, I mean, that's all we got here.
Uh, we gotta be in this together, we gotta try and stay positive, uh, cause I think, um, there has been, and it's, it's Yankee social media.
So you're not gonna get any middle ground.
You're getting, we are absolutely fucked, we might as well pack it in, or, hey guys, it's not the worst thing in the world.
Aaron Judge out for 4 weeks.
No, he's not out for 4 weeks.
He is shut down for 4 to 6 weeks.
We'll R, uh, will undergo imaging again after that time period, and then it will be determined what the next steps will be.
Can he begin lightly working out?
Can he begin baseball?
We, we literally don't know.
Um, I already had people telling me, you don't know anything.
Thomas, how could you possibly guess ?
It's like, well, I mean, just looking on what we are being told, the Yankees dropped the update.
They made it clear that he would undergo imaging in 4 to 6 weeks, which means he is not doing anything until then.
Um, and then the final quote in the injury update was, Aaron Judge, Judge is expected back at some point this season.
Does that make it sound like Aaron Judge is going to be back in 4 weeks?
It doesn't.
Um, I am an expert, not in medicine, but in Yankees language, um, and Yankees speak.
I know exactly what all of these injury updates mean when they are being, uh, I, I don't wanna say purposefully, they just like to cover their bases, but they are vague.
They do not reveal all the information at once.
They are not forthcoming.
They don't like to, uh, report on things sooner than they know the, the absolute finality of it, but at that point, like, you're dealing with complicated injury situations with a multitude of players, like there is not gonna be any, like, definitive information, you just You have to say, oh, we're rolling with the punches, we're looking at this potential timeline, could be long or whatever.
It would just be easier if they were a tad more open and candid with their updates, but that's where we're at.
Um, I think that the important tidbit for everybody to know is that we're probably looking at In August return for Aaron Judge.
I don't know if that's the beginning of August, I don't know if it's the end of August.
We, we are not, uh, we are not clear on that, but this 4 to 6-week timetable before he's able to undergo imaging again will be crucial.
So, um, I know that we are in a bit of a holding pattern with figuring this out.
I know we've experienced a lot of the judge injury situations in the past .
It's been a little bit of time.
I understand 2023 was the toe injury that derailed the season, but the 2023 Yankees never felt like they were doing anything.
So, when he got injured, You weren't like, oh my God, this is the end of the world.
You're looking at the 2026 Yankees and you're saying, this could be a serious death knell to the roster, but thankfully, the AL is still struggling, we're watching it every single day.
Um, and the Yankees have a real chance to stay afloat with the talent they have.
How are you feeling about just, um, the, the ability for the Yankees to get by in general and like this injury in itself compared to stuff that he's experienced in the past?
Yeah, I mean, I think the, the first question is, is a more straightforward one cause First of all, you hit on it, the state of the AL is truly abysmal, and so even if you want to say that the Yankees are going to be a below 500 team without Aaron Judge, which, you know, I think might be pessimistic, but even if that's the case, it, it's really hard to imagine them doing something as drastic as falling out of a wild card spot or something, you know, I think like the floor in terms of the standings is still pretty high, even if It might cost them the division, but even the division, like the Warriors are taking on water now, it seems like no one else wants to win it, so the, the context around them is basically as good as it it reasonably could be for something like this.
Um, I'm in in terms of his injury itself.
I mean, the, the whole thoracic outlet shoulder thing was such, was so startling that I'm having a hard time putting that out of my mind entirely, you know, like if we, if we just got told from the jump, this was a stress fracture in his ribs, and the timeline was the same, that he was going to be out for at least 4 to 6 weeks, at which time he'd get new imaging and we'd know more.
If that had just been the words, I would have been, you know, obviously it's not great, and it's, you know, especially when you're swinging, I'd imagine ribs are pretty important.
But I would at least say, OK, that's something that feasibly with enough time, you can get over and he'll be back in time for when the games start really counting.
Um, but the fact that they were, they were apparently so concerned that it took them days to figure out what a diagnosis even was.
It's just, it's just this little splinter in my mind that I can't let go of because you're like, what if, especially, you know, look, this team does not have the greatest track record with clear and definitive injury diagnosis or, or, you know, saying things that wind up being true in this area.
So it, it, I, you know, I want, I want to be an optimist about it, but I do have that little nagging fear in the back of my mind saying, what if it gets worse.
Yeah, I mean, the thoracic outlet of it all had everybody ready to freak out.
And I think that when he was not diagnosed with that, which we, we don't know how this is going to transpire, um, I would guess that if it's a fractured rib, Um, and they had concerns due to the location of the fracture.
They sent him to the thoracic specialist just to see, hey, let's make sure we're not dealing with this because if we are, like, we can't handle another snowball effect of somebody needing, uh, a surgery that will require a year to come back.
Um, I think the thoracic appointment was precautionary, but the fact that that was even floating around out there, had everybody Wonder, like that would have eaten into 2027, if there's a season.
But at the same time, I think also, When everybody realized it wasn't thoracic, they thought it was still good news.
And I, I would say, yes, it's better than, of course, it's better than Aaron Judge missing 10 months to 12 months with surgery, but it's also not great that he's missing at least 4 to 6 weeks before we know what the next steps are.
Um, So , there, there's a, there are a lot of complications to this.
I still think there's a little bit of gray area, um, just because of the way that the Yankees worded the whole injury uh update and what they were going to pursue further to figure things out.
Um, I think it's right in line with pretty much every Yankees injury situation, especially you've experienced this year.
We'll get into the few other updates later, but we have Giancarlo Stanton and Max Fried on the shelf way longer than they had let on, they'd led us to believe , and we're still in no man's land with whatever is going on with the two of them.
Um, in terms of the Yankees keeping it together, we're gonna get into the Red Sox series, it's just, it's not that, they, they played two games, no one really gives a shit.
Um, this is more important.
Um, How the Yankees keep above water.
Um, obviously, they're capable of doing it.
They have a talented roster.
Um, They Like Chris said last week, the, the cracks in the foundation are not what they used to be, um, or they're non-existent.
The floor is much higher, um, there is not going to be some sort of overhaul that's needed at the trade deadline because of the way that they kinda upgraded defense, versatility, athleticism, um , all of that.
However, We've seen now Aaron Judge out of the lineup for 5 games.
We've seen the same old stuff, lack of contact.
Inability to hit with the runners and scoring position, um, which, uh, to be frank, is a problem when Judge is in the lineup.
It's worse when he's not, and, um, it didn't really change over the last month because, remember, Judge had a horrific 28 game stretch where the only thing that was valuable on his end essentially was his presence in the lineup, making it comfortable for other hitters to uh see better pitches or work counts a little bit easier.
So now, We are at a situation where I think the comments put it perfectly, um, we're at the mercy of Aaron Boone.
Um, do we trust it?
Uh, I, I, I think gun to our head, no, simply because I, I wanna keep my life.
Um, but at the same time, if we are trying to be glass half full folks, Aaron Boone has managed.
A couple of Yankees rosters now, um.
Without Key players.
Um, he does it every year without Giancarlo Stanton, essentially, and I think that he does not do a bad job of that.
And, in fact, when Giancarlo Stanton goes down, I think it actually shows Aaron Boone's potential at times because He is backed into a corner with Stanton locked into the DH spot.
Doesn't allow him to move guys around as liberally, and over these over the last month, cause Stanton's been out since April twenty-seventh or something, um, we've seen this creative uh use of the DH.
Spot with Ben Rice.
I know there's the hand issue, but he's been working in Paul Goldschmidt, um, before Jason Dominguez went down, he was getting a couple of DH days in there.
So, um, I think at this point, maybe Trent Grisham gets a couple of DH days.
We'll, we'll, we'll see in due time.
Um, but what's the temperature check on you trusting Aaron Boone throughout this stretch, and what do you think the biggest key is for the Yankees to kind of remain afloat?
I mean, the boom question, I, I, I think I would have given you a more optimistic answer until, and I'm sure we'll get to this when we talk about the Jason Dominguez update, but until he started talking about, uh, wanting to stick keep with Jason Dominguez and left rather than ask him to learn a new, a new position in right field, even though that's clearly, especially given the park they play and that's clearly the right move, um, so that, that left me with a little bit of a sour taste in my mouth, but because to your point, I think.
When he's been freed up a little bit, because, you know, for all, for anything else you want to say about this roster, I do think it it can box him in a little bit in terms of who plays and how often and where, um, I think he's shown a willingness to try some stuff and we've even seen it earlier this year, you know, we with all the talk about.
This newfound sense of urgency, a part of that was Aaron Boone doing more to make sure that his best 9 were on the field on a daily basis.
Um, so I, I don't, I think he's smart enough to do it.
Um, I don't know.
You know, I, I don't know if if the pieces that he's working with will be, will allow it, um, you know, we can talk about Jason Dominguez, we can talk about Spencer Jones, like, to me, I think it's, I think it's.
More uncertain whether the guys who will be soaking up those at bats can perform the way they need to rather than will Aaron Boone push the right buttons, um.
Cause for the most part, you know , Iron Boone can only do so much, and I do think he is genuinely, he genuinely does an OK job in in this aspect of the game in terms of being creative with positionality and things like that.
Yeah, I think my issue here is I want Aaron Boone to have enough flexibility and freedom, but not too much.
And now he's got too much, cause you got Stanton out, you got Dominguez out for now, you have Judge out, and that leaves him with, for example, in my opinion, too much playing time for Anthony Volpe, which I am confident that is going to happen and that's gonna be a problem for this team because he is now back to doing whatever he does.
Um, but I think that There is a a couple of realities here.
One is Austin Wells is also on the shelf.
Um, he went on the IL Saturday before the postponement with, uh, cervical headaches stemming from the cervical spine, which is not great.
I think that might be able to maybe sum up some of the issues he's been dealing with long-term.
Uh, cervical spine stuff usually, um, based on The, the updates that we've seen, uh, is not really an abrupt thing.
It seems like it comes on slowly, um, and it's like a degenerative issue with, uh, with the neck area.
Um, and that could have been, that could have been a 6 to 12-month issue for Austin Wells.
Um, and, uh, that could explain why he's been so bad over the last calendar year for the most part.
Um, And that's gonna That's not going to, it's gonna hurt the Yankees defensively cause Austin Wells has been really good, um, behind the dish.
The starters talk all the time about how good he is at calling games.
Um, but it at least gives the Yankees a look to see, OK, if we get a right-handed catcher in the mix, what is this gonna do for us?
Um, the problem with it all is that the Yankees had already called up that right-handed catcher, um, Ali Sanchez, on Friday night and option JC Escara to Triple-A because they were facing, uh, two lefties against the Red Sox and Wanted to capitalize on that.
Um, and it's a concern because Aaron Boone and the front office essentially were telling us that JC Escar has, they believe he's one of the best catchers in the league, and you're optioning one of the best catchers in the league to Triple-A.
And not only that, if he is one of the best catchers in the league and you believe in his bat, why isn't he getting more reps than Austin Wells, who's batting 160 with a five-something OPS and a 50-something OPS plus.
So, This is getting a little bit off topic, but it's right in line with all the Boone stuff.
Why, if Aaron Boone has the power and the flexibility to make these calls, why is Austin Balls essentially the everyday starter?
At this point, after he's, after all that he's shown you.
He's probably, you know, he, I, I bet he's a good guy in the clubhouse.
I bet he is really good at helping the pitcher, uh, the pitchers prep for their games, but you can't keep trotting out a guy who does not hit at all.
JC Iscara has shown us way more, in my opinion, this year offensively when he's gotten the chances um.
than Austin Wells has.
JC Escar is better at bat, the results might not be there.
Um, but, uh, it's a, it, to me, it's a more competitive at-bat.
There's more potential there.
There's, there, there is at least something to look forward to.
Austin Wells is, has been getting worse and worse and worse for 12 months now.
So, I, I don't know where they go from here.
Um, so, there's that, and then, You have to look at uh the Spencer Jones situation.
Um, Spencer Jones goes 3 for 3 on Friday night, and then he's benched on Sunday.
Like, I understand you're facing a lefty, but you also kinda can't do that, and then you can't ask him to pinch hit um against somebody who's throwing 103 miles an hour.
Like, like that, those, those are the things that get me worried, where it's like, OK. Whatever, you don't wanna start Spencer Jones against the lefty, like, I don't think that's necessarily a 100% Aaron Boone call, that's an organizational Yankees thing, but then you're gonna bring him in to face the fucking fastest throw on the Red Sox, like outside, like Aroldis Chapman-esque, like, at that point, like, don't do that.
Um, it, it, that, that, it's night and day between what he's been facing at Triple-A and, and the big leagues.
So, um, I think that there are a few things Aaron Boone needs to do over this stretch.
One is play Spencer Jones more and as much as he can, give Jose Caballero more shortstop reps, um, And make sure we are really doing our best to mix up these lineups against the left-handed pitching.
Um, that means getting Paul Goldschmidt into the mix.
I don't think they're gonna have trouble with that.
But, uh, at, at the moment, but when Stanton is back, you're gonna have to get him in the lineup more.
Um, maybe some reps for Ben Rice at catcher against left-handed pitching.
Um, depending on how Sanchez does, which I, I don't think is going to be anything promising.
Um, Ahmed Rosario in the lineup a little bit more with, with, uh, against lefties.
Um, and when Jason Dominguez is back, you have to figure something out with him.
Being in the lineup pretty frequently.
Because if you want to make sure that you have the versatility and the athleticism, um, there's gotta be a way to work in both Dominguez and Jones.
And again, if there's a flexibility with the DH spot, it kind of works out perfectly because then, Um, both of those guys can play against righties.
Paul Goldschmidt's on the bench for those days, um, and you can keep moving it around, but, uh , those are pretty much the big things for me.
I don't know if there was anything else you spotted, um, but I, I think the, the, the bottom line is that Anthony Volpe needs to see less playing time.
Uh, because he, he's, he's now back to, he, he had his little four-game stretch that looked good, and I, I think rightfully earned him a little bit more playing time, but now we have double or triple the evidence from that, and it's right back to where we started, so now, he should start losing playing time.
I am, I am Charlie Brown cooking the football, man.
Every time he has a week or two where the at-bats are good and it seems better, I'm like, here it is, he's turned the corner and every single time, like, man, some, some of the at-bats this weekend were just like disheartening, um.
It, it, yeah, it just, I, I, I don't know what it is.
He just seems like he cannot resist falling back into bad habits for after more than a week or two, and he also, you know, they've, they've talked about moving into second base, that's never happened, doesn't seem like it's going to happen, so he's not, you know, talking about how important flexibility and positionality are with Judge out.
He's sort of running against that because, I mean, as long as he's taking up a roster spot, he's pretty much only the shortstop, um, and that like greatly impacts what you can do with your roster.
So I just don't know what, I don't know what exactly he's adding and at this point, I, I just, yeah, I, he's given you no reason to believe that he can be a, a quality major league hitter, even an average Major league hitter for an extended period of time.
He seems to have it in him, but it's just the, the process breaks down and it gets so ugly.
He is not a shortstop.
Uh, I think that's just, that's, that's just the bottom line.
He does not have the arm strength to be a shortstop.
We have seen it countless times.
It is Uh, you are watching a completely different baseball player with Jose Caballero at shortstop, and Jose Caballero is not even a natural shortstop , he's more of a utility player.
So, The fact that the Yankees were talking about moving him to second base, Anthony Volpe, and have not really done anything with that, um, doesn't lead me to believe that they're actually gonna make meaningful changes with his ability to be versatile on the defensive end.
But with his lack of range, um, with his inability to I don't know.
He, his cutoffs are bad, his relay throws are bad.
Yesterday's relay throw was one of the worst throws you'll ever see by a shortstop, like literally ever.
Um, had the runner round it, the, the Sean Rafael is fast.
I will, like, there is no denying that Volpe had to rush the throw, but he It was one step off third base when Volpe fielded the cutoff from Cody Bellinger, and not only was it, uh, the weak, one of the weakest throws you've ever seen, he threw it in line with like the on-deck circle.
Um, so, like, that's, that's the type of stuff where, um, it, it's unacceptable because John Boyd does breakdowns on this.
I feel like every time Volpe cutting balls off in the outfield, he did one, I think last week and Volpe was cutting a ball off from like the deep outfield near the warning, warning track, and he was like a step in front of the infield dirt.
And it's like, what are you doing?
That's not where you need to be.
So, I don't know what it is.
I , I really don't know what blackmail Anthony Volpe has on this organization.
Um, I don't know why.
They are not fixing the, the clear defensive issues that exist.
Um, but the, it's , it's clear as day when he's on the field, it's, it's not an everyday Major league shortstop.
Um, and I don't know what his future holds.
Again, I am like you, I get tricked for the one to two-week spans, and I'm like, man, if he can maintain these hitting mechanics and if he can just put up competitive at bats, like, again, I don't need Anthony Volpe to be a perennial All-Star.
I need Anthony Volpe to have a 98 OPS plus.
That's what I need Anthony Volpe to have, and to play tight defense, which is not asking a lot from a guy who's not producing a ton offensively, right?
The least you can do at that point is just be a sure glove.
How many shortstops out there are an absolute sure glove and they suck on offense?
They're like the easiest thing to find.
And Volpe can't even do both at this point.
So, um , there needs to be less playing time for him.
I, I'm, uh, you, you have the Aroldis Chapman situation on Friday night where he looks at three fastballs right down the middle, doesn't take the bat off his shoulder, you have him swinging at, um, Uh, a 3-0 pitch from Ranger Suarez and popping it up with the bases loaded, and then you have him coming up again with runners in scoring position, swinging on the first pitch, popping it up.
Um, it's just, it's not it.
And again, I'm not asking him to produce in all of these situations.
Um, I understand he got a hit yesterday, um, or on Friday, whatever it was, um, and he scored a run with a walk, uh, yesterday too.
But, um, the, coming up in too many big moments is something Adam and I have talked about, and it's just like, The, the cosmic curse of it all, like, Anthony Volpe being at the bottom of the lineup should not be coming up.
Like, you construct an MLB lineup to say, OK, my 78 or 9-hitter is not coming up in clutch situation after clutch situation, and it seems like so many times, we're seeing Anthony Volpe come up in these, in these situations where, and it's not Fair to him either, where it's just like, you're in the crosshairs of the fan base, man, deliver here or you're just, you're, you're toast.
You're gonna get roasted for the next 3 days and that's what's happening.
So, um, you have the Friday night situation, you have the at-bat, he also went 0 for 2 yesterday with the person in scoring position, and then you have, um, the, just lackluster defense.
And my other point I'm gonna make here is if Aaron Judge is out, the defense needs to prevent runs, and that's it.
So, that's where the manager comes in, that's where Aaron Boone's gotta put his foot down and he's gotta say, Jose Caballero is my shortstop.
Anthony Volpe will be in the lineup, I can get him in the lineup, but guess what?
When Jason Dominguez is back, Anthony Volpe should be going down.
Um, that's my hot take, um, because I would rather see more of Spencer Jones.
Overall, DH role, moving around in the outfield.
If the Yankees are gonna complain and say that Jason Dominguez can't play right field, great.
Spencer Jones can play right, left, and center.
So we could do that.
Jason Dominguez can play left, Cody Bellinger can maybe play some first base, maybe play other positions in the outfield.
Maybe we give um some of these guys a day off and cycle them in here and there.
It's, it seems like the most plausible way to go about it, but I don't know if I trust the Yankees to actually pull the trigger.
Yeah, I, I don't know that I really do either, and to your point, like, the margins just get smaller when you no longer have Aaron Judge in the middle of your lineup, and, and, you know, I, we, we could say the same thing about the bullpen too, and, and the way Aaron Boone manages it.
It's like all this stuff, all these decisions matter a lot more now that you're probably not dropping 789 runs on a semi-regular basis, like we've seen this team when it's at full strength and when it gets rolling in the past.
This stuff all matters a lot more, and defense is at the very top of that list.
You need to play, if you want to at least get to the All-Star break with your head above water, you need to play clean baseball more than anything else, cause like the fact is, they have enough rotation talent and they have enough power in this lineup that if they just play clean baseball, given the state of the AL they're gonna be OK.
But the, the thing you cannot do, you absolutely cannot do, is start beating yourself again, and Anthony just .
It's an execution thing, you know, like this does not execute in the way that you need to execute in this, in this situation on this team.
Um, so yeah, I, I, I would also option him back down.
I don't think that's a particularly hot take at all.
No, yeah, I mean, how much, yeah, I, I, it's, it's just the realest take there is, in my opinion.
Yeah, no, totally agree.
Um, so yeah, I mean, it, it all depends on, look, the, the, the fact of the matter is that I, I think.
You, it, it's hard to roll with one shortstop.
Um, you, you wanna have the, the goal should have been this from the beginning, obviously, Volpe , the everyday starter, if he was pulling his weight, and then Caballero as like the utility backup.
Um, but they don't have that luxury anymore, so they have to live with reality and you gotta figure it out.
Um.
And again, it's like the, the, the execution with Volpe and the departure from, like, his consistency to his, or I'm, I'm sorry, his, his bright spots to his slumps.
Like, you can see the difference in the mechanics, you can see the difference in the approach, and the fact that it is black or white, and it's, it's always trending worse in the more concerning direction, just shows that I don't, uh, again, I don't know what it is.
Was Anthony Volpe's development screwed because he was given the leash that he was in 2023 and 2024 without consequence?
Possible?
Was Anthony Volpe just never the prospect that the Yankees thought he was?
Also possible.
Um, did they screw themselves by not giving him a little bit more time in AAA and instead just giving Oswald Peraza the opening day job in 2023 and letting Volpe kind of heat up and then create a roster competition after that?
I don't know, but either way, I'm not gonna sit here and blame anybody cause it doesn't get us anywhere.
It's just, you gotta deal with the problem at hand.
The problem at hand is you're down two MVP caliber sluggers at the moment.
One of them is a perennial MVP candidate.
The other one is Giancarlo Stanton, the most, you know, one of the, one of the most prolific power hitters of the modern era.
Um, and Judge is gonna be out for far longer than Stanton will be.
Um, So, you have to figure out a situation where you're getting the most out of the roster and you're minimizing mistakes.
We know the Yankees don't play clean baseball, they've gotten a little bit better at it.
I, I think we'll be, we're, we're, we're a little bit lenient there.
We understand that they, they've worked to make um some necessary changes.
Are they where they, we want them to be?
No.
Like, I was hanging out with my buddy, we were gonna watch the Saturday night game and then it got postponed, and instead we watched the Guardians Rangers, and he was like , I'm glad I'm not a Guardians fan, but like, I will watch the Guardians and I will say, this is kind of how I want baseball to be played.
I want to watch tight defense.
I wanna see.
Um, like the Guardians, uh, in, in the last couple of years haven't made a ton of contact, but they're usually predicated on a team that just at least puts the ball in play, challenges the defense, takes the extra base, um, You know, all those types of things, and he's like, I don't, I, I like being a Yankees fan, I like being in the playoff picture, I like being in the World Series conversation.
I don't like being a small market team that has to like beat around the bush and figure out the next cool trend that's gonna make me better, but like, at the same time, can't we have a little bit of both?
Can we have some discipline and some ability to execute on the daily and bring, you know, Extravagant slug and whatever to the party.
Um, and that's where I think the Yankees roster situation has, um, kind of, uh, uh, departed from, from where it should be.
Um, and look, as for the Stanton conversation, comments are always going after Stanton.
Uh, it, it is what it is at this point.
John, uh, no one is relying on Giancarlo Stanton to be an MVP.
They're just relying on him to be in that lineup and, um, Hit home runs and protect other hitters around him.
That's all he's good for at this point.
Um, and there is, Giancarlo Stanton is bulletproof now.
The, the, what he's done in the postseason for this team.
Since, uh, since he came here, uh, there, there's no discussing it anymore.
Uh, if you, I'm sorry you don't like him striking out a ton or coming back after his injuries and going into two-week slumps, it, it, and I'm sorry you don't like the fact that he misses 40, 50 games a year.
It is what it is.
He's done all he's, all he can.
He did everything that he could possibly do in 2024.
In 2020 to get this team to where they needed to be.
The rest of the roster collectively let him down, Aaron Judge in particular, in 2024, and that's where we're at.
So, we can keep complaining about Giancarlo Stanton.
It's the Jazz Chisholm, uh, Luis Arraz argument, right?
We have Giancarlo Stanton, there's nothing we can fucking do about it.
We had Jazz Chisholm before we could sign Luis Arraz.
We're not getting rid of Jazz Chisholm and then signing, um.
And then, and then signing uh Luis Arraz.
It doesn't work like that.
If he doesn't hit in the playoffs again, again, it doesn't matter.
He's already done everything that he could possibly do in pinstripes as a Yankee.
I could pull up the stats right now, and he probably is among, like, the franchise leaders .
He's got 18 home runs in 48, he's got 18 home runs, 44 RBIs, and a 926 OPS in 48 playoff games.
If he doesn't hit in the next postseason, he still has a fucking 8-something OPS with, again, 18 home runs and as almost as many RBIs as games played.
So, It is, again, it is what it is.
He's done everything that he possibly could do.
Um, last year in the DS he was again, one of the few.
It was him and Aaron Judge in the DS against the Blue Jays and nobody else showed up.
So, Giancarlo Stanton coming back is a plus for this line-up.
It's not a minus, it's not gonna hurt, it's not gonna hurt this team.
Yeah, he's gonna go into a two-week slump, you're gonna see him strike out a ton, and then he's gonna be fine and he's gonna get back on track.
Um, but, yeah, I mean, again, it's not Giancarlo Stanton's job to win a title.
Um, it's, it's the entire team's job to win a title.
Um, so, that's where we're at, and, um, The roster discussion will continue to fly off the rails.
Um, it's an imperfect roster.
Everybody knows it, but retroactively trying to fix it with moves that aren't real or will, are actually, uh, attainable is, is not serving anybody.
Um, big advantage for the Yankees, however, is Saturday's game gets postponed due to rain, and guess when it gets brought back.
August 29th, a doubleheader, which at that point you would hope Aaron Judge is back, um, knock on woods.
Yeah, Red Sox fans complaining about this, um, I love it, um.
Red Sox fandom, honestly, is just, it's down bad now.
I don't know how you've been doing.
Do you like, uh, do you keep up with Red Sox fandom?
How do you operate, Chris?
I, uh, I maintain a healthy distance, but when things are going wrong, I dabble.
Um, there, there are some Red Sox fans that I, I, who's just whose analysis I genuinely enjoy and who don't make me wanna like leave out my window, and I'll, I'll, I'll follow them, but for the most part, I, I'll, I'll rubberneck when things aren't going great, which has been a lot of fun this year, um, but yeah, I, you know.
It's just, I think at this point we can declare that they're just not a particularly good baseball team.
I'm, I'm, I, I was, I was holding out a little bit of, of trepidation that maybe they would finally turn it on, and at this point, I, I think the lineup just is what it is.
I am gonna say this, and I'm gonna regret it, um, but Honestly, uh, baseball is so much worse when this team sucks , when the Red Sox suck.
Um, it, it's, it's just legitimately depressing.
I think for two reasons.
One is obviously, you want the rivalry to be spicy.
And you want games to matter, and I think either on the flip side, like, there's nothing worse, especially than losing to like, A shitty Red Sox team that's gonna punch above their weight cause they hate the fucking Yankees in like late August, um, cause that's how it always operates, like, Red Sox suck, doesn't matter if they suck, they will level up to beat the Yankees because they want the Yankees to perish.
Um, so that's one, and then 2 is You know, they're a big market team, and they're supposed to be good.
Like, not in a sense that you have money and you should be good, but like, they've been good before, they've had the, they have the resources to be good, and a lot of the stuff that they do is self-inflicting and, and we don't understand why.
Um And lastly, I don't know what's worse at this point.
Um, and again, I try to distance myself as well, but I don't know if it's better if the Red Sox are bad or if they're good because their fans figure out a way to just be insufferable in either scenario .
Um, like, every Red Sox situation in this day and age is woe is me , baseball is the worst thing that's ever happened.
Actually, who even cares about baseball?
Baseball sucks.
I don't know why you guys don't matter.
Last time I cared about baseball was 2018, and then anything after that actually didn't happen.
Um, and it's just, it's exhausting.
The, the Craig Breslow of it all is just, uh, I don't even know how, how we've gotten here.
The fact that they've parted with, I know it's looking good at this point, um, that they don't have Rafael Devers or Alex Bregman on the roster, but don't you think if one or two of those guys are on the Red Sox right now, they'd be having a far better season than they would in, uh, San Francisco and Chicago?
I think so.
Um.
But yeah, genuinely funny that um the Yankees get bailed out by rain 2 times in the last 2 weeks against two key division rivals, and they get pushed so far into the future that It puts them in the driver's seat, essentially, if this is a close division race.
Yeah, absolutely, and especially, you know, yeah, I, I, I never even, even in years where the Red Sox are down, I just, you can never take those games for granted, and so any chance that you can play them with Aaron Judge back in the lineup is, is far, far better than the alternative, um, because yeah, they just, I, I almost dread a, a, a sub 500 Red Sox team more than I dread a competitive Red Sox team, because they just are gonna they have nothing else to do.
They have nothing else to do with their August but make the like the Yankees' lives miserable and I. Um, yeah, I mean, the, the Rays thing is even bigger for me because I think that, um, the Rays postponement, the Rays are gonna play their best baseball at the onset of the season, before anybody figures them out, before injuries start to affect, and then, maybe they're healthy all year, who knows?
Maybe they go throughout the year and everything's fine and nothing changes, but um with the way baseball operates, everything regresses to the mean, good or bad.
So, the Rays being on the hot streak that they were, at that point, 4-0 against the Yankees, won 17 of 19 or something like that.
You get the rain , you get the rain postponement there, you beat them the next day and then they lose 7 out of the next 9.
The Yankees are tied for first place right now, uh, because of, um, cause their struggles.
And I think again, an extra game in September against them benefits the Yankees who are, I think, a much better built team for the long haul.
So, Um, very rarely does the rain come in, uh, the clutch for the Yankees.
Usually we're what, uh, waiting for the game to start at 9:45 or waiting, waiting for the game to resume at 11:47 p.m., um, and then some disastrous, uh, situation occurs with Aroldis Chapman.
Um, but can't complain.
Happy with the result.
Thank, thank you to Mother Nature for that.
Um, so, yeah, sorry about that, Red Sox fans.
We'll see you in late August for a doubleheader.
Should be, should be a thrill.
Um, at that point, you might have Roman Anthony back, who knows?
Apparently, this is the, uh, this is the most, um, uh, drastic finger injury in the history of minor finger injuries that, that, that's ever happened.
Um, All right.
Now we have some key injury updates.
We're gonna loop it in with all the stuff that we talked about, uh, above.
Um, Jason Dominguez started a rehab assignment on Friday.
That's great news.
Giancarlo Stanton taking live BP doing agility drills, running a little bit more, but still not entirely clear on what's going on there.
Max Freed just started throwing from 120 ft, which means, um, I don't know.
I don't, I really don't know what that means for him.
Um, so let's start with Dominguez.
Um, I know we touched on him a little bit, but rehab assignment already.
Um, you don't need to see anything out of him, right?
It's just like once they feel he's ready to go, he's back on the Major league roster.
Yeah, I, I think as, as soon as he feels physically ready, um, I, I would have it be a pretty short rehab stint.
I would hope it would be a pretty short rehab stint.
I think particularly like there just aren't, there, there's a surprising lack of left-handed bats on this team beyond the big ones that we that we haven't really seen in the past, um, and so like honestly his ability to hit righty pitching is huge for this team, um, and I also Like his, the quality of a bat he was giving before he got hurt, I thought was genuinely like pretty positive.
Um, like I, I, I had real hope for, for his year this year, and it seems like we've said that in years past and somehow something always seems to happen to this guy.
Sometimes it's his fault, sometimes it's the injury gods, um, but yeah, I, I, I'm excited to see him back.
I think he's gonna, you know, I, I wrote about this on Yanksco Yard, uh, last week, but this is, this is a huge moment for him, and I hope he's ready to take advantage of it.
Yeah, I mean, again, the fact that um they, they stood pat on Dominguez and Jones by not trading them, I don't necessarily think that it was the, uh the best move in the world, but guess what?
Now, it's gonna hopefully pay dividends or you're gonna get a closer, you're gonna get a, a better answer as to where these guys fit.
Are they gonna be a part of the team?
Are they nothing?
Do they build their trade value?
So when you have a clear window of Judge returning, you can move one of them for another asset.
I don't know, but Jason Dominguez has earned it.
He deserves to be back on this roster.
Um, if they have to mostly DH him, that's fine.
I don't, I agree with the comments.
I, I don't like watching him in the outfield, but at the same time, um, he can't be a permanent DH.
He is too athletic.
Um, He, he's not, he, he, theoretically, he's not a one-sided player.
He's not the best defender in the world, but he shouldn't be this bad.
Um, but guess what?
What what injured him?
A spectacular diving catch into the wall.
Classic.
Um, so I think, uh, hopefully, he can get more time out there, get more reps, and at least just be serviceable, and there's ways to do it smartly, right?
Play him, um, against Teams that don't put the ball in play a ton.
And that, those are his defensive days.
And then he has DHD against heavy contact teams, like, there, there's ways to do it.
Um, but the fact that he is As athletic as he is, can switch hit, can pinch run, um, can steal bags, all that.
It's simply too valuable, um, to, to be wasting away at Triple-A.
Um, all right, then we have Stanton who, like I said, working his way back, live BP agility drills.
Um, Aaron Boone told the media on Friday that he would not be activated for the road trip, um, against the Guardians and the Blue Jays, which is taking place this entire week.
They're on the road.
Um, Until I believe Sunday and then they return home, right?
Let me pull it up, yep, then they return home to play the White Sox and the Reds, which, uh, should be fun.
Those are 22, young teams that have been solid this year, but Is that when Stanton returns?
They also have the off day on the Monday.
Um, they have an off day on Thursday this week as well.
I don't know, uh, if I were to guess, he's coming back for the Cincinnati series, they're gonna give it a little bit more time.
Um, that team has much better pitching than the White Sox, so I think that's, that's maybe where they would want to, to target him.
Uh, but the fact that, again, there's, there's still no clarity here.
Uh, and I feel like we were led to believe that he'd be returning a bit sooner, and now we're in a holding pattern.
So, um, you know, you've experienced plenty of stanton injuries, we have experienced plenty of stanton injuries, you have an estimation on what you think.
Yeah, I, you know, talking about trying to uh get, get your doctorate in Yankee speak, to me, this seems the, the updates they've given have seemed more like An abundance of caution than the injury being something more than we were initially led to believe.
I think with John Carlo, given all the stuff that comes with him , and look, you know, uh, as much as the comments love to rag on him, given his importance to this lineup, like I, I, I've said this before, I'll say it again, I do not think the Yankees get where they need to go this year if Giancarlo San is not locked in.
Like I think is that is that impactful, um.
And so given all of that, I think the last thing they want to do is to have a 2nd IL stint right after the 1st 1, um, and with his body like You just don't know.
I mean, you, you try, you all you can do is do the absolute most to make sure that he is not feeling any kind of pain, and if he has any kind of discomfort at all, you gotta kind of slow play it.
And it seemed like, you know, he was getting better, but he wasn't totally discomfort free when he was running the bases.
So they're just, you know, we talked about urgency a lot this season, and I think in Giancarlo's case, he gets whatever the opposite of urgency is because He's too important and his body is too fragile.
Like you just, you need to be a million% sure that he's ready before he comes back.
It's, it's unlike Jason Dominguez where, you know, he's young, he's an athlete, um, the injuries he's gotten have been pretty freak in nature.
Um, yeah, I, I, I, so I think, you know, who knows , knock on wood, this could change in a few hours, but To me, I think it's more just the Yankees letting Giancarlo set his own timeline than the Yankees slow playing the reality of this injury, and I do agree.
I think he'll come back on the next home stand.
I think that's kind of what they had in mind, and hopefully he's locked in cause we could really use him.
Yeah, I mean, uh, look, it, it's, it's just, we're dealing with the reality of the situation.
The reality of the situation is that whenever Giancarlo Stanton gets injured, it's, it's at least, at least a month affair, and it's more times than not 6 weeks.
Um, and it probably averages close to 8. somewhere in the 6 to 8-week range every time he gets hurt.
Um, and this is not his fault.
You wanna get mad, don't get mad at us for talking about his, how his presence in the lineup is important.
Blame Brian Cashman, who knew that this man was injury-prone before trading for the largest contract in the entire sport.
He averaged 123 games with the Marlins over 7 or 8 years.
That's enough evidence to tell you that he's missing a quarter of the season every single time he plays.
How is it that, that was , and then, and then you transitioned to him to a full-time DH almost immediately after he arrived in New York.
That's not Giancarlo Stanton's fault.
Um, so, I'm working with what we got because there's, uh, or, or else then I'm dreaming of situations that don't exist, like, Everyone's talking about Yordan Alvarez.
We are not getting Yordan Alvarez.
We can't do this.
It's never fucking happening.
The Astros are not trading a potential MVP candidate to the Yankees, and the Yankees are not giving up the assets that it would cost to get him.
And then again, that puts you in a situation where you are getting a perma DH.
And with the way the game has evolved, we do not need perma DHs anymore.
Now we can get super flexible.
The Yankees wanna build the lineup predicated on slug.
That's great.
Now you can get 4 sluggers .
And cycle them all in, get some guys with days off their feet, so they're not, uh, you know, grinding themselves into the ground playing defense every day.
Um.
And uh it, it, the, the, the bigger market teams have the flexibility to do this.
So, it is what it is.
We have Giancarlo Stanton.
Is it the most fortunate thing in the world?
No, but there are much worse things.
Um You could have uh Manny Machado's contract, for example, which I know we have talked about on this podcast a million times, so that would have been a great fit for the Yankees.
He's, he's the, he has the worst batting average in the league right now.
So, for everybody in this chat who I know was probably peddling for Manny Machado to be on the Yankees, what would you be saying right now if that was the impact addition that the Yankees had gotten, however many years ago, and he's hitting 160.
It, it would, it would be a, a not pretty conversation.
All teams in the league go through.
These unfortunate, um, situations that kind of crater the team's play, um, and lead to uncomfortable conversations about fit, about length of contract.
Cubs fans are going nuts on Alex Bregman right now because he can't hit water if he fell out of a boat at the moment.
Um, it, it's, it's everywhere.
So, Vladimir Guerrero Junior hasn't fucking homered in the Rodgers Center all year .
I, like I, you know, it, it, it's, it's insane how some of these situations are escalating to the point that they are, but it exists.
Um.
Uh, I mean, we are now 2.5 months into the season, man.
So, I mean, if he, we'll see what happens, but it's not getting any better for Manny Machado.
Um, and then lastly, we have Max Fried.
Max Fried, who's dealing with a left elbow bone bruise, um, increased his throwing to 120 ft.
He went from 60 to 90, now he's at 120, beautiful.
Um, and he's gonna undergo imaging to determine if he's ready to get back on the mound.
So, not clear.
The imaging could be good, and he could get back on the mound, the imaging could not be good, and he has to continue throwing at whatever.
Progression he's throwing at.
Um, the frustrating part here is that it's another Yankees injury tale.
He, he was dealing with this injury for a couple of weeks before he actually went down, then he actually went down, then immediately after he went down, he tells the media following that game that he's hopeful to make his next start.
He leaves that game on May 13th.
We have not heard anything about him making meaningful progress.
He is, he is about to be a month out from this injury, and he's not throwing a pitch.
So that means he's gonna need another 2 to 3 weeks at the very least, assuming the imaging is good.
So, um, he's a key piece.
I need to see him and Gerritt Cole in the rotation at some point, like, how many situations like these are we gonna get?
We get Stanton, Judges out.
Then we get Stanton back, or I'm sorry, then we get Judge back, Stanton goes down.
Now, we signed Max Fried, Gerrit Cole gets Tommy John surgery, Gerritt Cole comes back from Tommy, Tommy John surgery, Max Freed goes down .
It's the most ridiculous thing ever, but Max Fried is important for this rotation and we need him back soon, especially with, um, we can't have his timeline get any closer to what Aaron Judges because the Yankees need to prevent runs right now.
Yeah, I, I am wondering about in what way the the state of this rotation and the fact that they, even without Max Freed, have 5 guys that you trust to at least keep us in in games on a daily basis, how that's going to affect the way they approach this, um, and whether, you know, if, if the numbers 4 and 5 spots in this rotation were bigger question marks, whether they would , whether they and he would be treating this.
Um, with a bit more urgency, or maybe urgency is not the right word to use, but yeah, I, I do think that they They're clearly playing the long game with this.
They, they, they're clearly treating this injury with an eye towards getting Max Fried back for September and October, um, and obviously that, that's fine, you know, like that the, the, the end goal is to have this team healthy in the postseason because I think we all agree that that's the floor for this team given the state of the standings around them.
But yeah, you know, I mean, we, we saw last year.
How the smallest of margins can affect you, even, you know, even games in May and June, um, you know , they, they lost the division on a tiebreaker, and, you know, I'm not gonna argue they would have beaten the Blue Jays if they had had home field advantage, but I certainly think that that series turns out much differently if they had to buy, um, and so, you know.
The the longer you hold them out, the, the more you're bleeding on the margins, and eventually that's gonna cost you.
And so it's, it's a, it's a tricky balancing act cause obviously you don't want like you want Max Freed to be healthy for the long run, especially given his contract, but yeah, it's, it's, it's tough, especially given kind of the way this team handles injuries where you just don't hear about guys and and and and the lack of transparency and the inability to know kind of, OK, here's exactly what's going on.
Um, so I think it just leaves us in a place where we're kind of waiting and hoping and, you know, sitting in the Vatican waiting to see smoke coming out of the, out of the chimney and, and hopefully hearing good news instead of bad news.
Um, but yeah, I mean, it seems like everything is structurally OK, so as long as that remains the case, I'm gonna be optimistic about it, but it's, he's a pitcher and the longer it goes, the more nervous you are.
Yeah, I mean, look, he'll be in a situation where they're as cautious as they could possibly be.
It's no secret, um, but like you said, it's a double-edged sword.
These games count.
These games matter.
These, they need to win these games, but at the same time, you wanna be prepped and healthy for October.
Um, and the Yankees, in my opinion, have not proven that they have the luxury of resting guys for October because they don't get the job done necessarily.
as emphatically as they should during the regular season.
And again, they don't play clean enough baseball to say, OK, when we get to October, like all these guys coming back are gonna be a godsend.
It's like, no, the, the, the, the problems that you endure aren't necessarily, uh don't necessarily disappear once these guys are back from injury.
Um, the, the, there are a handful of teams that have the luxury of resting guys and playing things strategically until the playoffs.
One is the Los Angeles Dodgers.
We don't really need to get into that.
We know how they operate.
They have, they, they, they have a carousel of pitchers every year.
Um, And end up welcoming an entirely new bullpen in September, and they're ready to go in the postseason.
Um, the other is the Atlanta Braves.
The Atlanta Braves have survived multiple seasons without Ronald Da Cunha Junior.
They won the World Series without him.
Um, and they have figured out a way to manage their depth both with, um, Walt Weiss has done a great job this year, Brian Snicker in previous years.
is not the most recent, has also done a great job.
And Alex Anhopoulos is tremendous at roster building.
So, those are, those are two teams in my opinion that have earned the right to do that.
Um, and then you have the Brewers who the Brewers do need to clean up their act in the postseason, um, but they have shown that they can weather the storm throughout the regular season, play clean baseball.
Win games against divisional opponents, win games against, you know, uh, uh, against the top competition at the very least.
Um, when the, when the lights are brightest for them, they don't necessarily succeed, but at that point, like, Uh, they, they're, they're, they're, they're Yankees then, you know, like, except they're doing a better job during the regular season.
Um, the Yankees have one World Series berth.
I know the Brewers don't, but, um, in my opinion, if you don't win at all, I, I'm not really counting a pennant as anything to hang your hat on.
Um, so, yeah, yeah, Matt Olsen probably should have been a Yankee, um, or at least Freddie Freeman should have been if they decided to, um, Be creative, but instead, they just gave Anthony Rizzo $60 million instead.
Um, so that's a great note to end on.
Um, anything else, Chris?
Any other thoughts?
No, no, not much.
I just, yeah, you know, I still think this team has the talent to, to keep their heads above water and, um, yeah, I, I think it's, it's, it's a particular hell that we find ourselves in every year.
Knowing or feeling like we know what this team can be and just never actually seeing it, and there were moments this year where I thought that that might be different, but the baseball season is long and winding, and You know, this stuff happens and so I'm just, I'm hoping that the stars will align and we can get it figured out by the end of the year, but, um, yeah, you know, rotation is still really good.
Um, there's still, there's still talent in this lineup.
Um, I'm, I'm excited to see what Dominguez and Jones can do for extended periods of time if nothing else.
Put Jason Dominguez in right field.
That's my biggest thing.
Like I don't understand why this is not an easy decision to make, um, and yeah, I hope, I hope for the best big series against the Guardians coming up.
Guardians, Blue Jays, um, we got Gavin Williams again.
This time, we're not avoiding Parker Messi, so, better, better tighten the shit up.
Um, I'll leave you guys on this note.
I'm a pessimistic Yankees fan.
Um, as you all know, I will say, if this team can figure out a way to develop a semblance of an offense of an offensive identity over the next 6 to 8 weeks, 10 weeks, whatever it is.
When Aaron Judge returns, think about how good the Yankees could be.
Am I confident that will happen?
I will not necessarily say I am.
I will give it.
41% confidence level.
Uh, that's where I'm at.
Um, just because it's, it, it, it, it goes, the, the, the, the changes they need to make to adapt and become a kind of a completely different offensive team, um, is a lot of work.
But like we said, they have the pieces.
It's a different roster, it's a different group of guys, it's different player profiles, and now it's about those guys maximizing their player profiles and Switching things up, um, and stepping up when the best player is down.
So, just think about how great this team will be if they can figure out some sort of rhythm and then Judge comes back into the fold, has a couple of weeks to get back on track, and then he's mashing by September.
That could be electrifying.
We'll see.
Anyway, that's it for today's episode of the Yanks Go Yard podcast.
Thank you guys for tuning in, Chris, thank you for being here.
Folks.
Hit him up at at Chris of the land on social media.
I am at Tommy_takes.
The official Yanks Go Yard social media account is at Yanks.
FS hit us up there, the main account, um, plenty of mock drafts, power rankings, um, Robert Murray's insight on the trade deadline.
Plenty of other, plenty of other content out there for you guys to, uh, read.
Don't forget to head on over to Yanks goyard.com.
That's where our entire editorial team is writing articles on the Yankees, stuff that we're not talking about on the podcast, keeping you up to date with everything.
Um, and until then, folks, we'll see you later this week.
Thank you for tuning in.
Uh, Guardians tonight, I think it's 6:40.
We, uh, Midwestern stuff, but , um, we're hoping for a series win, get revenge on them for last week, and show us you got something, Yanks.
Let's go, baby.
Take care.
