Yankees' Aaron Judge injury updates from Judge, Aaron Boone feel purposely vague

Eagle-eyed New York Yankees beat writers stalked the field for any signs of Aaron Judge's post-injury workouts on Sunday, in the same way that both Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham were back on the grass testing their agility shortly after coming up lame. No such luck with Judge; the Yankees kept him in the shadows instead. That shouldn't be surprising.

Judge kept his timeline under lock and key throughout his entire rib injury rehab process (though somehow the Rockies series managed to emerge as an accurate target along the way). His reinjury just one week after returning to the lineup has thrown both his rehab plan and playoff availability into question, with detectives looking to ding him retroactively for his process and dig into the future simultaneously.

It's no wonder that information about Judge's new injury has come in drips and drabs. The only thing Judge has been willing to give the media so far is the information that it's the soleus muscle that he hurt, which makes baseball motions difficult and could lead to a more progressive and harrowing injury down the line under the wrong circumstances.

But what grade is it? Is a 2-3 week timeline typical, or is it something much worse? Judge won't say, only betraying that he'd like to be back for the postseason.

Get it? If he never admits the grade, he doesn't remove himself from consideration for the Wild Card series outright. Very clever. Not reassuring.

Aaron Boone doesn't help Yankees fans learn more about Aaron Judge calf strain

If you were hoping to ply the information Judge has refused to give out of Aaron Boone, you weren't any luckier by choosing that path. Instead of cheeky optimism, though, you would've received frustrated bluster.

If Judge says he wants to be back for October, then Boone will neither refute nor endorse that notion. Instead, he'll give you the curt half-truth.

He'll be back. Or he won't. The only two options.

The Yankees and Judge will never say it, both to betray their competitive advantage and their beloved captain, but a return in the Wild Card series feels somewhere between foolish and impossible. A return during the postseason will depend on many factors, most of them related to how far this team is able to push without Judge's star power and added gravity. If you're looking for clarity here, maybe you can find it in between the Yankees' public statements.

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