ESPN MLB Insider Expresses Optimism on New York Yankees' Aaron Judge and His Toe Injury
The New York Yankees have been battling without star Aaron Judge in the lineup, putting themselves in a great position with relation to the American League playoff picture.
Entering play on Thursday at 48-39, the Yankees are in sole possession of the third wild card spot, 1.5 games ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays and 4.0 games ahead of the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels.
While fear has set in about Judge being out most or all of the season, ESPN MLB Insider Buster Olney expressed optimism about Judge and his health on Thursday's edition of 'The Brady Farkas Show.'
'After hearing Brian (Cashman) talk about this yesterday, I walked away and said 'you know what, they actually think that they have a real chance to have him back.' And not necessarily soon. I think they'd be thrilled if he played sometime in July...."
After winning the MVP a season ago, Judge is hitting .291 this year with 19 homers and 40 RBI. He's added three stolen bases. For his career, he's a .284 hitter with 239 home runs.
Judge signed a massive nine-year, $360 million contract this offseason that will likely keep him in New York for the rest of his career. In addition to the MVP award, Judge has won Rookie of the Year, a home run derby title, three Silver Slugger awards, and is a five-time All-Star selection. He was selected to the game this year but is unable to play.
The Yankees are far behind Tampa Bay in the American League East race and have struggled to score runs lately. That's been something of a surprise, considering they were favored to win the division this year. According to the gambling website Fanduel, their over/under win total was projected at 93.5, two games better than Toronto and four ahead of Tampa Bay. They aren't favored any more, with odds slipping all the way up to plus-3200, according to Fanduel.
The Yankees will play the surging Baltimore Orioles on Thursday at 7:05 p.m. ET at Yankee Stadium. Kyle Bradish will pitch for the Orioles, and Luis Severino gets the call for New York. He has been up and down lately, giving up seven runs in four innings in an 11-4 loss to St. Louis, but he pitched six scoreless innings and allowed just five hits on June 24.
With Severino's struggles, it's not much of a surprise that the Orioles are favored on the road. According to Fanduel, Baltimore is favored at minus-125 and the over/under is set at 8.5.
The Yankees won the first two games of this series, but there's still very little faith in Severino, who's fastball is still hitting in the mid-90s, but control has been an issue and he's still leaving too many balls over the middle of the plate. The lean to the Orioles seems to be obvious in this one.
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