Yankees: Aaron Judge’s MVP campaign taking hit after he’s put on injured list

Yankees star Aaron Judge is going on the 10-day IL with a leg injury.

First it was Giancarlo Stanton. Now it’s Aaron Judge. Thanks a lot, Tampa Bay. New York Yankees fans should be fully fed up with going to Tropicana Field.

For a short moment there, the Yankees appeared as if they’d get through the 2020 season without any major hiccups. Stanton got off to a scorching start and then Judge followed that up with a streak that quite literally took over Major League Baseball for a couple of weeks.

Now, the Yankees will be without the two of them for quite some time. Manager Aaron Boone told reporters before Friday’s game that Judge will be going on the injured list with a calf injury.

Another awful turn of events. Judge is leading the MLB in runs scored (16), home runs (9), RBI (20) and slugging percentage (.758), which was shaping up to be an MVP campaign in the shortened season. He can’t afford to miss much time if he wants to be a frontrunner for the award, and his candidacy will no doubt take a hit if other hitters begin to heat up while he’s out.

Plus, we have to factor in if this will be a nagging issue and/or if he’ll need time to get back up to speed when he comes off the IL. Given how hot his bat was, it’s safe to assume he’s not going to continue at that torrid pace when he’s ready to return.

The bottom line is this team cannot escape injury troubles. Before the season even started, Judge, Stanton, Aaron Hicks, James Paxton and Luis Severino (who’s out for the season) were all slated to miss months of action. The team dodged a bullet when the season was delayed, but here we are back at square one.

However, the troubling aspect about Judge’s diagnosis is that the Yankees weren’t clear with the media or the public. Judge was pulled from Tuesday night’s game against the Atlanta Braves not long after hitting a home run, and Boone claimed he just wanted to give the slugger some rest after he played four straight games on the turf in Tampa. Why even start him then?

Then, a day later, it was revealed that was a lie and Judge was dealing with “lower body tightness,” what Boone described as an issue with his hips, hamstrings and calves. Now, it’s the injured list after an MRI.

Everybody understands the Yankees want to be cautious, especially when you consider what’s happened with Judge the past two years. But beating around the bush created a bit of a media circus and it’s not a good look now that he’s going to miss a bit of time after we were told it was all precautionary.

Luckily, the Yankees lineup has proven it can handle serious losses, and they just so happen to be facing the worst team in the AL and arguably the worst pitching staff in baseball. Yup, the Red Sox are garbage! That should get our hopes up!

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