How Judge's injury impacts Yankees' Deadline plans

The only way to get a proper sense of what the Yankees might do at the upcoming Trade Deadline -- something Yankees fans always look at as Opening Day 2 -- is to have a sense about when Aaron Judge might play again this season. Except that the Yankees still don’t know when, and if, Judge might be healed from the broken rib that finally took him out of play on May 31. Judge doesn’t know when he can resume baseball activities because neither do the doctors.

When asked if he thinks he will return to the field again this season, Judge said this:

“I don't know why I wouldn't.”

With Judge back in the lineup, you would expect Brian Cashman, the Yankees' general manager, to go big at the Deadline, trying to avoid having this be the 17th straight season the Yankees have gone without winning the World Series. The one time the Yankees did make the Series since 2009 -- before losing to the Dodgers in five games -- fans of the team didn’t think the Yankees did enough to improve a bullpen that cost them dearly when they went up against Los Angeles -- even on a team that had Judge and Juan Soto acting like Ruth and Gehrig.

It was at the end of Game 1, of course, when manager Aaron Boone saw Nestor Cortes, who had suffered a flexor strain in September, as his best option against Freddie Freeman in the bottom of the 10th and the bases loaded. Freeman hit a grand slam that is now one of the most famous home runs in Series history, and the Yankees never really recovered.

Last year, it was as if Cashman did turn over plenty of his bullpen at the Deadline, trading for David Bednar, Camilo Doval and Jake Bird. At the same time, Cashman also traded for José Caballero, Amed Rosario and Austin Slater. The Yankees ended up winning the same 94 games that the Blue Jays did, but lost to Toronto in four games in the America League Division Series.

Now here they are again, with Judge and Giancarlo Stanton out; Max Fried just made a rehab start in the Minors on Friday night; and the injured Carlos Rodón threw a bullpen session on Thursday. So they’re down big players. But then so are the Red Sox, who’ve basically been without Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony (their best player a year ago) and still managed to win 11 in a row through Friday night and play their way into a Wild Card spot.

Does Cashman need to go all-in if he is confident that Judge will be back even by September? He does. It is because of Judge. He has become one of the great Yankees, hitting 50 home runs more than four times, the same as Babe Ruth did. Judge also hit 62 in a season and has been MVP three times. But he is now 34 years old. If he does get back on the field at some point, this will be his 10th full season as a Yankee. Of all the other great Yankees, only Don Mattingly ever played longer without winning a World Series. In the end, Mattingly was in the wrong place -- Yankee Stadium -- at the wrong time.

The Yankee have won a lot with Judge, though, across his 10 years, starting with when the Yankees made it to Game 7 against the Astros when he was a rookie. Just not enough winning in October and November. There is always urgency for the Yankees to win at that time of year because of a grand history that includes 27 World Series and 41 pennants. There is more urgency now because of Judge -- because of his age.

Now, even sitting where they do in the division -- 2 1/2 games behind the Rays and suddenly just 5 1/2 ahead of the Red Sox -- the Yankees are not just a wounded team but a flawed one, and not just because of the way they’ve stopped hitting without Judge. It is an established fact that they are looking for a right-handed-hitting catcher. They need help up the middle, not just because of the empty at-bats they frequently get from Anthony Volpe, but the ones they also get from the talented but wildly inconsistent Jazz Chisholm Jr., too.

Even as strong as the starting pitching has been when healthy, they have to look at improving that as well, if only because the kid who has been their ace -- Cam Schlittler -- is moving up on the kind of innings count unlike anything he has yet seen in his career. And they once again look to need bullpen help, as solid as Bednar has been. It is one of the reasons why you are starting to hear the Yankees in rumors involving Padres closer Mason Miller, even at this time when they can’t hit.

The question, as always with the Yankees, is just how much ammunition Cashman has in his farm system -- rated No. 26 by MLB Pipeline heading into the season despite featuring top prospects like shortstop George Lombard Jr. -- to take the kind of Deadline swings he might need to take. That means with or without Judge.

The clock is ticking for all the other contenders as we move up on the Deadline. Just more loudly for the Yankees or Aaron Judge.