Aaron Judge’s elbow injury isn’t a season crusher for Yankees, but they face suboptimal options involving Giancarlo Stanton

The Yankees got good bad news Saturday: Aaron Judge, the reigning American League MVP, has a flexor strain in his right arm.

That outcome, for the flailing Yankees, now six games adrift of the Blue Jays in the AL East, qualifies as a bullet dodged. Judge was a surprising omission from the lineup ahead of Saturday’s matinee against Philadelphia. Asked about Judge’s absence during his typical pregame availability, manager Aaron Boone revealed that the seven-time All-Star was dealing with elbow discomfort and would undergo imaging during the game.

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Fortunately for Judge and the Yankees the worst-case scenario — Judge requiring season-ending surgery — did not arise. After the team’s 9-4 defeat to the Phillies, Boone told reporters that imaging showed that Judge has no “acute injury to the UCL.” New York’s captain will require a stretch on the injured list, although Boone was hopeful that Judge may be out for the minimum 10 days. Upon his return, Boone relayed, Judge will slot in at designated hitter as he gradually revs his arm back up to speed.

A corresponding move has yet to be announced.

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Judge first felt discomfort during a Tuesday night’s game in Toronto after a throw he made to home plate in the bottom of the sixth inning. Later in that game, after tossing a ball back into the infield, the 33-year-old right fielder could be seen grimacing and stretching out his right arm on the broadcast. Asked about it afterward, both Boone and Judge brushed it off as insignificant. Unfortunately, Judge’s arm did not improve over the course of the week (even though he homered Wednesday) and the Yankees were forced to take action Saturday.

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The area of Judge’s arm in question, the flexor mass, is a group of muscles on the inside of the elbow that act as something of a cushion for the UCL (ulnar collateral ligament) which lies underneath. Without rest and rehab, a flexor strain can precipitate an eventual tear of the UCL, which has happened to multiple pitchers in recent years including Jacob deGrom and Walker Buehler. However, considering that Judge is a position player, the overall risk of an eventual surgery is likely somewhat lower.

“Swinging the bat is OK. I don’t think it’s perfect, probably,” Boone told reporters when asked whether Judge felt pain while hitting.

And so, the Yankees will give their superstar slugger time for his elbow to heal, although Boone admitted the team considered having Judge DH to avoid an IL stint. Ultimately, they decided to play it safe.

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Two seasons ago, the Yankees were forced to weather a nearly two-month month stretch without Judge after he tore a ligament in his toe during a freak play at Dodger Stadium. In Judge’s absence, New York’s offense couldn’t replace its biggest pillar and the club’s 2023 season capsized into irrelevance.

So while losing the best hitter on Earth for any amount of time is an unequivocal bad, the Yankees are much better situated to withstand a Judge-less world. In 2023, the Yankees have a bottom 10 offense in baseball. When Judge went down, it was a carousel of overmatched and over-the-hill fill-ins doing their best. It wasn’t good enough.

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This year the Yankees have a Top 3 offense in the sport. The Bombers lead baseball in homers, walk rate, wRC+ and rank third in runs. And while Judge is a huge part of that, his supporting cast has been excellent. Five other Yankees — Giancarlo Stanton, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham and Ben Rice — have performed at least 20 percent better than league average. In 2023, Gleyber Torres was the only qualified non-Judge hitter to produce at that level.

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Positionally in Judge’s stead, expect Bellinger to become the regular right fielder, with Grisham manning centerfield and Jasson Domínguez in left. However, when Judge returns as a designated hitter, things will get more complicated. The plodding, cement-footed, cinderblock-legged Stanton has not played the outfield since 2023. That lack of recent experience, and Stanton’s sixth-slowest-in-baseball sprint speed, would make even a temporary move back to the grass quite the adventure.

That will be the biggest and most lasting question about Judge’s injury. If he’s physically restricted to being the DH, he will play over Stanton, no doubt. That leaves perhaps the team’s second-most-potent bat as either a bench piece or the single worst defensive outfielder in baseball. Neither of those options are optimal.

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The sooner the Yankees can get Judge back in the outfield the better. Still, having Judge DH is far preferred to having him on the operating table or in street clothes. The Yankees are not in a good place right now, their chance at a division title is slipping away and they are only two games clear of a playoff spot. Losing Judge obviously won’t help. But unlike 2023, all hope is not lost.