Yankees captain Aaron Judge is still without a timetable to return from his toe injury suffered earlier this month.
Thanks to The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner, we now know why. Judge spoke to media ahead of Saturday’s game against the Rangers and revealed the true state of the injury. He didn’t just sprain the ligament in his toe, but tore one.
For the first time, Aaron Judge told reporters he tore a ligament in his toe. Previously, the team just said it was a sprain. Judge also said he still has pain while he walks.
— Chris Kirschner (@ChrisKirschner) June 24, 2023
Granted, this is largely semantics. Sprains and tears are often one and the same. The latter is only reported if particularly significant. This whole time, the Yankees were reporting that Judge had simply sprained a ligament in his toe.
Cut to talk of a boot and a PRP injection later, and we’re asking which is true. Thanks to Judge, we know what actually happened.
Cut to talk of a boot and a PRP injection later, and we’re asking which is true. Thanks to Judge, we can now safely assume the ligament in his toe was fully torn.
There’s really just one question to ask: Why weren’t the Yankees just upfront from the start? Brian Cashman might be an objectively good GM despite recent mistakes, but his communications and public relations practices are abysmal.
It isn’t about Aaron Judge anymore, nor his recovery or how the Yankees team seemingly can’t function without him. It’s about how the “Yankee Way” is literally crippling this franchise.
Seriously, why couldn’t Cashman just come out and say what happened? The fans and media would panic over any Judge injury no matter how mild. The former MVP takes a simple day off and #YankeesTwitter explodes with worry.
This practice is simply ridiculous. Hal Steinbrenner is a largely absentee owner who stops in as needed. Brian Cashman runs the Yankees all by himself. It’s a private, family business. Why does he behave as though full transparency will tank the company stock?
Aaron Judge will be back when he’s back. It’s on the Yankees to perform well in his absence and nothing Brian Cashman does will change that.
But at the very least, this is yet another sign that he’s out of touch, borderline clueless, and the Yankees are becoming a laughingstock under his watch.
