Yankees insider hints at possible Aaron Judge return date, but what can we believe?

Joel Sherman is one of the most trusted Yankees insiders out there. He's usually all over the bigger developments and regularly provides accurate insight. In fact, he was pretty spot on about Aaron Judge's injury situation when it went down about three months ago.

On Monday, he arrived with an estimated return date for Judge, who has been progressing well, according to manager Aaron Boone. But there still hasn't been any suggestion of a timetable for the reigning MVP. Yankees color commentator Suzyn Waldman is the only other one to weigh in here with a similar guess.

Sherman posited on the Pinstripe Post podcast that Judge could be back around Sept. 10 against the Colorado Rockies. That would get him right back into action for the Subway Series at Yankee Stadium, with the Yankees' remaining schedule featuring the Mets, Twins, Diamondbacks, Rays and Orioles.

That's essentially two weeks from now. As much as we'd love to see Judge back on the field as soon as possible, it's hard to take anybody's word regarding the cloudy situation.

Aaron Judge's injury situation with Yankees still feels unpredictable

The Yankees have rightfully been taking it slow with Judge, which makes it seem aggressive that he could be back within the next 16 days. He didn't start doing much of anything until Aug. 6 and he was only recently cleared to hit off of a tee.

More taxing workouts are still to come, meaning Judge will have to pass vigorous checkpoints before even thinking of getting back on the field. There's been no reporting of the intensity of his runnings and strength exercises, so there's no way to tell how far along he really is.

It's definitely good news he's able to do more, but projecting a possible return after he's only begun hitting off a tee seems a bit too hasty. We know the Yankees usually keep things close to the vest, but Boone really hasn't sounded overly convincing here.

Will it only take a couple weeks for Judge to get his body up to speed after essentially doing nothing for two-plus months? It's not out of the realm of possibility. The guy is a freak of nature.

If he's back by the Rockies series, that would be incredible. It gives him enough time to get respectable game action in before the postseason and his presence in the lineup will only help the Yankees put pressure on the Rays for the AL East title.

But we'll believe it when we see it. We'll remain hopeful, but we aren't going to start buying into loose timetables based on educated guesses.

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