Yankees: 3 early-season takes that look really stupid right now

1. “Trade Aaron Judge at maximum value and tear it all down.”

OK, I did NOT actively support this one, but I also didn’t rule out the idea — it was worth a conversation. However, some fans were serious about blowing the entire operation up. That’s how bad things were.

Judge was the Yankees’ best and most consistent player early on — he still is — and when fans felt the April through mid-July Bombers couldn’t get it done, the thought of running this all back in 2022 really made you feel sick. This team? AGAIN?! We simply cannot endure underachieving or coming up embarrassingly short yet again.

Though there’s plenty of time for that to still happen, trading Judge instead of extending him sounds ludicrous. Again, we knew it was, but the previous situation called for a much different discussion. Judge is hitting .283 with an .897 OPS, 27 home runs and 65 RBI. Could those numbers be better? Sure. But again, we can’t be nitpicking on every level imaginable. He’s now started to steal bases. He could be the regular starting center fielder down the stretch and in the playoffs. There’s no replacing this guy on either end of the ball. Really.

And even if the Yankees had no answers in late August and seemed to be headed toward a dead end, why would you trade Judge? Though his injuries have plagued a good portion of his career, this is one of two years in which he’s proving he can handle a full season’s worth of games … and be a top-10 player. Don’t you just keep him as the “face” of the franchise, get rid of the others even if they’re not worth much, and try to figure out another plan? Yeah, that seems more reasonable.

Trading Aaron Judge! Ha! You almost had us, Yankees Twitter. You really did.

Yankees: 3 roster swaps to prepare yourselves for over next few weeks

New York Yankees fans should prepare themselves for the following roster swaps, which could occur over the next few weeks.