Aaron Judge stokes elbow surgery fears with one quote after Yankees’ elimination

Aaron Judge deserves all the credit in the world for fighting back with an incredible postseason performance this October, and it's incumbent upon every Yankees fan to fight to make sure his heroics aren't buried by an avalanche of, "You Lost Anyway!" garbage. In this particular October, his teammates let him down. Plain and simple.

That betrayal may have run deeper than we even knew at the time, given what it appears Judge continued to fight through during the run.

In late July, Judge departed for examination after an awkward throw and fit of wincing in Toronto. Yankee fans, naturally, feared the worst, and there was good reason for them to. It looked like UCL damage and it came on strong.

After a battery of tests, Judge was (publicly) diagnosed with a flexor strain instead, which is a well-known potential Tommy John surgery predecessor for pitchers. Instead of forcing him from the campaign entirely, it relegated him to DH duties and awkward-looking injury management when he returned.

If it affected him on offense whatsoever, Judge did a fantastic job of hiding that reality, reaching a rhythmic point towards the end of the season that carried nicely into October. In case anyone deluded themselves into thinking his increased strength at the end of the season meant the injury was healed rather than managed, though - silly us! - Judge delivered an awkward truth bomb in Wednesday's post-loss media scrum.

Yankees' Aaron Judge doesn't rule out elbow surgery after Game 4 loss to Toronto Blue Jays

Never forget that, when the possibility of Judge's surgery first lingered just before the trade deadline, the Yankees considered selling off veteran rentals like Trent Grisham, Paul Goldschmidt and Devin Williams rather than continuing to fight for playoff position. That's the kind of roster this was. The type of team they'll be for the first few months of the season if Judge does miss time will be even worse off, pending a drastic and semi-panicked overhaul.

As if the Yankees weren't facing enough adversity and uncertainty in trying to balance Grisham/Cody Bellinger's free agency and the stuck-in-between nature of Jasson Dominguez and Spencer Jones, there's now a possibility that Judge's actual doctors convene and take the necessary "work" on his elbow a step further.

If that does transpire, he wouldn't miss anything close to the entire season, but he'd certainly add a red flag to a campaign that's already teetering months before the curtain rises.