Boone on leaving Judge off Wild Card roster: 'Ultimately I just felt like not quite ready to do it yet'
The Yankees' Aaron Judge takes batting practice during their American League Wild Card Series workout day at Yankee Stadium on Monday. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
How close was Aaron Judge to making the Yankees' 26-man Wild Card Series roster?
Manager Aaron Boone, in his usual give-as-little-information-as-possible mode when it comes to injuries, all but punted on the question.
“I don’t know. Tough to say,” Boone said in his office before Game 1 on Tuesday night. “I think he’s had a good couple of weeks of, obviously, really grinding and doing everything he possibly can to be an option. Just felt like he’s not quite there yet. Hopefully, we’re able to move on and he spends, obviously, these next few days continuing to work his way back and we’ll see about being option moving forward.”
Judge, who missed three months of the season recovering from a right rib fracture before returning to the lineup on Sept. 8, lasted seven games after his return, landing back on the injured list on Sept. 19 with a right calf strain.
The Yankees declined to disclose the grade of the strain, with Boone instead characterizing it as “moderate.”
From the time he went on the IL, Judge insisted that he would do “everything” to return in time for the wild-card round.
“They make the decisions,” Judge said on Monday before taking the field for a live batting practice session. “They kind of run this. I voice my opinion, but that might be 1% of what goes into the final say.”
Boone watched Judge take live BP and did not say whether that session swayed him, or the organization, one way or the other regarding Judge’s availability for the Wild Card Series.
“I don’t know,” Boone said. “Look, it’s Aaron, so I wanted to see what he had. I was encouraged by what I saw, encouraged the fact that he’s back and doing those kinds of things and checked the necessary boxes he needed to with the trainers and the strength and condition [personnel] to be in a position to be able to do that. So that’s encouraging, but ultimately I just felt like not quite ready to do it yet.”
That was not the case when it came to Giancarlo Stanton, who did make the wild-card roster after participating in the same live BP session as Judge. Stanton, whom the Yankees see primarily as a pinch-hitting option in this series, has not played since April 24 when he suffered a calf injury. The DH had multiple setbacks during his rehab with his calf, including what GM Brian Cashman in July called a “new” injury, but had rapidly been increasing his baseball activity, which included running the bases and almost daily BP on the field, in recent weeks. Unlike Judge, Stanton was able to do some running after his live BP session on Monday night.
“Credit to G,” Boone said. “This has obviously been a trying year for him on the injury front, and having a couple of setbacks alone the way as he’s worked his way back, he’s never stopped going and stopped grinding… credit to him for putting himself in position to be an option.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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