ST. LOUIS — Aaron Judge is closing in on again playing the outfield, though there remains no specific timeline for that.
“I think sooner than later, but I don’t have that answer,” general manager Brian Cashman said here before the Yankees started a three-game series against the Cardinals.
Judge, who spent July 26-Aug. 5 on the IL with a right flexor strain, has only played at DH since his return, including Friday night. The outfielder began his throwing program Aug. 6 in Arlington and has continued to play long toss.
“I think he’s going to throw long-toss again today, so see how that progression continues to go,” Aaron Boone said late Friday afternoon.
Boone said as part of that progression, the training staff will have Judge “throw to bases at some point,” which likely will be among the final boxes he will have to check before being declared ready to again play in the field.
“I don’t have a day yet for you,” Boone said of Judge being an option in the field. “But it’s going pretty well so far.”
Because of a desire to keep Giancarlo Stanton’s bat in the lineup, the Yankees last week started playing the veteran in right, where he played in three of the last four games. But Stanton, who started the season on the IL with tennis elbow in both elbows, had not played the field in two years before playing there last Saturday. Stanton did not start Friday night in the field, with Jose Caballero, one of the Yankees’ trade deadline acquisitions, getting the start there. Boone indicated Stanton will play in right on Saturday, though didn’t commit to it.
“I hope so,” Boone said. “We’ll see.”
How did Stanton physically come through his three nights in the outfield?
“OK,” Boone said with a smile. “I think we’re doing all right.”
Goldschmidt avoids IL
The Yankees appear to have avoided the worst with first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, who suffered a low-grade right knee sprain while making a catch on the dirt in front of the home dugout at the Stadium during Tuesday night’s victory over the Twins.
“Definitely a lot better,” Goldschmidt said Friday.
The Yankees started Cody Bellinger at first base, but Goldschmidt said he anticipated being an option off the bench.
“I’m ready to go tonight,” Goldschmidt said.
Goldschmidt, who never wants to sit in the best of circumstances, certainly doesn’t want to this weekend as he returned to St. Louis, where he played the previous six seasons before signing a one-year free agent contract during the winter with the Yankees.
“There’s just some amazing memories and accomplishments, but also some disappointments from my time here,” said Goldschmidt, who won the 2022 NL MVP as a Cardinal. “The goal with the Cardinals, and the Yankees it’s the same way, it’s win the World Series, and we didn’t do it.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday’s sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.