Aaron Judge injury puts big onus on Yankees’ other high-priced stars
There is no one ingredient that goes into making up the Rays’ secret sauce. Tampa Bay thrives on multiple levels to offset a challenged payroll.
But clearly how the Rays conceive their roster is instrumental to their success. Sure, they may have made a stealth $160 million play for Freddie Freeman, but for the most part, the Rays have to piece it together on a shoestring and philosophically think of 40-man roster construction more 40-to-1 (bottom to top) than 1-to-40 (top heavy).
They want to avoid using a below-average player at any time and obsess on never becoming too dependent on one player. They never want the fall too far in production using the replacement for the inevitably injured starting player. That strategy has been a backbone to their yearly contention and the majors’ best record so far in 2023.
The Yankees, conversely — like other mega-clubs such as the Mets, Padres and Phillies — tend to be more top heavy. They generally go as their stars go — built more on a 1-to-40 strategy.
The Yankees are heavily reliant on two megastars with big contracts, Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole. But they also rely on a bullpen that — in the aftermath of the departures of Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman — looks like something the Rays dragged in: one relatively anonymous effective pitcher after another.
DJ LeMahieu and Anthony Rizzo need to play a big role in picking up the slack in Aaron Judge’s absence. Robert Sabo for NY Post
Arguably, no player is more central to any team’s success than Judge. Even when Judge is healthy and active, the team tends to go as he does: if he doesn’t hit or drive in runs, the offense often also stagnates. That’s with him in the lineup.
So this is the moment to note that when Judge officially began his second injured list stint of the season on Wednesday, the Yankees were 10 games over .500, in the third of three AL wild-card spots and 7 ¹/₂ games behind the first-place Rays. Where will they be when he is active again?
Judge needed just the minimum 10 days on the IL in early May to return from a right hip strain. His IL stint this time, with a right big toe sprain, was backdated to Sunday. Manager Aaron Boone said Judge’s toe was sore from a platelet-rich plasma injection Tuesday and until the swelling dissipates — probably not before the weekend — the Yankees will not try to determine how long he will be out.
LeMahieu has struggled this season, with an opportune time to find his swing. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
A Giancarlo Stanton hot streak would be welcome among the Yankees right now. Getty Images
One member of the Yankees organization likened what Judge had to turf toe and noted how finicky that injury can be. So Judge may be fine to play close to the day he is eligible to be activated or it may perhaps be weeks. Boone said the extent of Judge’s injury is not as “complicated” as the one DJ LeMahieu incurred last year that ruined his second-half swing and production.
“The thought is [Judge] will get over this [completely] in time,” Boone said.
LeMahieu also said Judge’s injury was not quite as severe as his. When asked about Judge having to put his considerable bulk on his back foot to swing, however, LeMahieu said, “I think his injury is different, but after what I went through last year, I have a lot more sympathy for someone going through a toe injury.”
When Judge was on the IL the first time this season, the Yankees went 4-6 and the right-field chorus of Jake Bauers, Oswaldo Cabrera, Willie Calhoun, Franchy Cordero and Isiah Kiner-Falefa combined to hit .118 with a .466 OPS and the team averaged 3.5 runs per in those 10 games. The Yankees went 15-8 with Judge in the lineup after his IL stint. He hit .325 with 13 homers and a 1.313 OPS and the Yankees averaged 5.7 runs per game.
To replace Judge on the roster, the Yankees summoned Billy McKinney, and no one should be surprised if he is part of as many lefty hitters in a lineup as possible for a doubleheader opener Thursday against the White Sox’s Lance Lynn, who has allowed a 1.097 OPS to lefty hitters this year (Judge by himself is at 1.078).
Ultimately, though, the Yankees need their high-priced players to compensate in Judge’s absence. LeMahieu, once a barometer himself to Yankee offensive success, has struck out too often and hit for too little impact. Josh Donaldson and Giancarlo Stanton were on the IL concurrently with Judge last time. They are active now. Boone has placed a lot of faith in the notion that Donaldson still has oomph in his bat, and he had three homers in 13 at-bats since returning from the IL. Stanton, in one of his hot streaks, can imitate Judge in exit velocity and production.
Anthony Rizzo, after a stellar start, was 6-for-34 without an extra-base hit and 12 strikeouts in his last nine games. Gleyber Torres, an offensive roller-coaster, has followed a 12-game hitting streak with an 0-for-12 stretch.
Josh Donaldson, back from the IL, has shown some oomph in hit bat. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST
The Yankees are paying that pedigreed quintet $94.95 million in 2023, and, as LeMahieu said, “We can’t replace [Judge], but collectively we have to do our best to pick it up while he is out.”
Keeping the Yankees’ offensively buoyant in their biggest star’s absence is, to a large degree, how that veteran group will be Judged.
Source: New York Post
