Aaron Judge Won’t Be Back Until Late August, and the Yankees Are Fine With That

The New York Yankees have been without Aaron Judge since June 5, when a stress fracture in his right rib landed him on the 10-day IL. It’s now mid-July, and the silence around his timeline has been loud. But on Wednesday, ESPN insider Buster Olney gave fans something real to work with.

Appearing on “First Take,” Olney said the Yankees are taking what you might call a Dodgers approach to Judge’s rehab. Slow. Deliberate. No rush. The team would rather have a less-than-100-percent Judge in September than risk losing him for October by pushing too hard in July.

“I think they are slow-playing the injury,” Olney said. “It’s a lot like what the Dodgers have done in recent years, where they’re basically telling their stars, ‘Look, we just want to make sure you’re okay at the end of the year.’”

Olney also revealed that general manager Brian Cashman has acknowledged Judge won’t be fully healthy when he returns. The three-time MVP is looking at a late August or early September comeback. That timeline would basically line him up for a ramp-up period just as the playoff push hits full stride.

And here’s the twist: the Yankees might actually become buyers before the trade deadline because of it. Olney suggested that knowing Judge will be back could push New York to add a reliever or a right-handed bat. That’s a shift from the narrative that the team would stand pat with its star slugger out.

Judge’s numbers before the injury were weirdly solid for a guy batting .248. That average is well below his career mark of .291, sure. But he still posted a .375 on-base percentage, crushed 17 homers, and drove in 38 runs across 53 hits. The power was there. The problem was consistency, which might have been tied to the rib issue all along.

The Yankees are currently hanging around the playoff picture, and Olney thinks they’ll figure it out. “In terms of making the playoffs, and perhaps playing deep into October, I think they will still figure it out before the end of the year,” he said.

So the plan, as it stands: let Judge heal. Let him ease back in August. Cross your fingers that he’s ready for the games that actually matter. The Yankees have seen this movie before with other stars, and they’re betting the slow-burn version has a better ending.