Yankees pleasantly tricked fans with Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton activations

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 23: Giancarlo Stanton #27 of the New York Yankees celebrates with Aaron Judge #99 after hitting a two run home run to center field against Max Scherzer #31 of the Washington Nationals during the first inning in the game at Nationals Park on July 23, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 23: Giancarlo Stanton #27 of the New York Yankees celebrates with Aaron Judge #99 after hitting a two run home run to center field against Max Scherzer #31 of the Washington Nationals during the first inning in the game at Nationals Park on July 23, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)

The Yankees activated Aaron Judge from the injured list on Wednesday.

Manager Aaron Boone is going to be conservative with everyone’s usage until the postseason but … oh my goodness, the New York Yankees are nearing full strength. All who’s left is James Paxton.

On Wednesday, the Bronx Bombers activated Aaron Judge and he’s in the lineup against the Toronto Blue Jays with Gerrit Cole on the mound.

Giancarlo Stanton isn’t in the lineup, though he made his return on Tuesday, but we have to say we’re loving this trend from Boone and general manager Brian Cashman. They finally positively surprised us with these injury updates.

Last week both stated Judge and Stanton would probably be activated for the weekend series against the Boston Red Sox, but here we are on Wednesday and the two sluggers are on the active roster. What a pleasant surprise. Wait, are we dreaming? Seriously.

How many times have we heard, “Oh, he’s fine, just getting some rest” and then a player hits the IL or “We should expect him back in 3-4 weeks” and then it turns into six? And how many times have injuries just randomly come out of left field that we would have never expected?!

Perhaps the organization got a hint and realized maybe it’s not the best idea to give fans an optimistic timeline since, well, they’re never accurate, and then said fans are furious when the recovery process lags on longer than they had expected.

That happened with Stanton, who went down on Aug. 8, and then everyone threw their hands in the air when he wasn’t back after the original timetable of 3-4 weeks. He’s now back after five weeks.

Nonetheless, lesson learned — lead the fans on to think one thing, and surprise them with another! Because lord knows Yankees fans can only take so much more devastating injury news before they officially crack.

The Yankees control the flow of information. They should continue to use that to their advantage for the sake of the morale among the millions who follow them avidly.