NEW YORK — Aaron Judge’s latest injury has created two uncomfortable questions for the Yankees at exactly the wrong time.
Should their captain have returned without a minor league rehab assignment?
And why did it take days for the severity of his latest injury to become clear publicly?
Calf injury changes Yankees’ October calculation
Judge experienced tightness in his right lower leg during the first inning against Minnesota on Sept. 16.
He attempted to remain in the game before leaving in the sixth inning.
The Yankees eventually placed him on the 10-day injured list with a right calf strain.
By Tuesday, the club had provided a much clearer picture.
Manager Aaron Boone characterized the injury as a moderate strain and said Judge had received a platelet-poor plasma injection Monday.
More significantly, Boone said New York was preparing for the wild-card round without its captain.
“We’re planning on him not being a part of that,” Boone said.
Judge’s brief comeback produced a .174 average, one home run and three RBIs in 23 at-bats.
For the season, he is hitting .241 with 18 home runs and 41 RBIs across 66 games.
Those numbers matter less than the timing.
The best-of-three wild-card round begins Sept. 29, with the Yankees currently lined up to face the rival Boston Red Sox.
Ex-skipper attacks Yankees
Former Yankees manager Buck Showalter has now put the first question squarely into the spotlight, while criticism surrounding the club’s handling of Judge’s medical information has intensified with the postseason approaching.
Showalter said during an appearance on Foul Territory that Judge should have completed a rehabilitation assignment before returning from his lengthy absence.
“When you start talking about the calf, that’s a different animal,” Showalter said.
The timing makes the criticism difficult for the Yankees to dismiss as a theoretical debate.
Judge is now expected to miss the American League wild-card series.
Showalter second-guesses Yankees’ Judge decision
Judge had not played since May 31 while recovering from a fractured right rib when the Yankees activated him Sept. 8.
He missed 84 games and 99 days.
Despite the unusually long absence, Judge returned directly to the major league lineup instead of first playing at Double-A Somerset or Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The decision was not forced on him.
Judge had publicly made clear during his recovery that he preferred to skip a minor league assignment.
“I didn’t rehab in ’23 when I missed probably the same amount of time,” Judge told MLB.com in August before questioning the value of spending at-bats in Double-A or Triple-A.
The Yankees instead attempted to build his workload through batting practice, machine work and live pitching.
Judge returned against Colorado on Sept. 8.
A little more than a week later, he was hurt again.
Showalter believes rehab assignment had value
Showalter’s argument is not that a minor league assignment could have guaranteed Judge would avoid another injury.
There is no evidence establishing that skipping rehab caused the calf strain.
Instead, the former Yankees manager’s criticism centers on the gradual progression a rehab assignment could have provided after such an extended layoff.
Showalter managed the Yankees from 1992 through 1995 and later managed the Diamondbacks, Rangers, Orioles and Mets during a 22-season managerial career.
On Foul Territory, he said Judge cannot simply be replaced in the Yankees lineup but maintained that the captain should have gone through a rehab assignment before returning.
Judge, meanwhile, has not backed away from the decision.
After suffering the calf injury, he told MLB.com he would not second-guess skipping the minors and noted the injury could just as easily have occurred during a rehab game.
That distinction matters.
Showalter is questioning the process.
Judge is arguing the outcome does not prove the process was wrong.
Yankees also face growing transparency criticism
The debate has widened beyond the rehab assignment.
When Judge originally exited the Minnesota game, the Yankees described the problem only as right lower leg tightness.
Judge and Boone initially offered few specifics about exactly where the discomfort was located.
After Judge went on the injured list, he acknowledged the injury involved the soleus area of his calf, but the club still did not immediately reveal its grade.
That approach became a story of its own.
A New York Post column published Tuesday sharply criticized both Judge and the Yankees for what it characterized as unnecessary “double-talk” surrounding his injuries and argued that the lack of detail shortchanged fans seeking straightforward information.
Newsday had raised a similar issue days earlier, noting the club’s vague description of the problem immediately after Judge left the game.
The criticism should be distinguished from the medical facts themselves.
Judge and the Yankees are not obligated to provide every detail of an injury publicly.
But the information gap became more noticeable when the initial “lower leg tightness” eventually became a moderate calf strain serious enough that the Yankees are planning to enter the playoffs without their most important hitter.
Judge decision now hangs over Yankees’ postseason
The Yankees survived most of the summer without Judge and still reached October.
Doing it again in a short postseason series presents a different challenge.
Judge changes the shape of the lineup simply by standing in the batter’s box. The Yankees cannot replace that impact with one player.
Showalter’s criticism therefore reaches beyond a single rehab decision.
It raises a larger question about how aggressively the Yankees managed Judge’s return after three months away and whether getting their captain back quickly mattered more than giving him additional competitive preparation.
The calf strain does not provide a definitive answer.
But with Judge now likely watching the opening round instead of playing in it, the decision — and the way the Yankees communicated what followed — will face much more scrutiny than it did when he walked back into the lineup Sept. 8.
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