Yankees announcer repeats major Aaron Judge, Juan Soto worry

Former New York Yankees hitting coach Sean Casey recently made it known he's no fan of club captain Aaron Judge serving as a full-time center fielder after the Yankees acquired All-Star outfielder Juan Soto from the San Diego Padres on Wednesday. 

Yankees play-by-play announcer Michael Kay repeated Casey's take during Thursday's edition of "The Michael Kay Show" that airs on ESPN New York.

"There is one aspect of both deals that they made during the winter meetings that comes close to terrifying me... I don’t feel comfortable with Aaron Judge in center field," Kay explained, per Manuel Gomez of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. 

The first move Kay referenced involved the Yankees landing outfielder Alex Verdugo from the Boston Red Sox. As recently as Friday morning, knowledgeable individuals such as Greg Joyce of the New York Post predicted that Judge will begin Opening Day 2024 as New York's center fielder despite injury concerns that come with the 6-foot-7, 282-pound superstar playing such a grueling position. 

After Judge went down with a hip issue last spring, Joe Rivera of The Sporting News shared a lengthy history of the slugger's injuries throughout his Yankees tenure. That was before Judge suffered a torn ligament in his big right toe when he slammed into a fence at Dodger Stadium on June 3. That setback ultimately kept the 2022 American League Most Valuable Player out of the lineup until July 28. 

"I trust [Yankees senior vice president and general manager] Brian Cashman knows it’s probably not optimum to have Aaron Judge play 100 games in center and that something is going to be done," Kay added during the show segment. "Maybe they end up spinning Verdugo for pitching – I don’t know. Because the best setup for the Yankees defensively is to put Trent Grisham in center, and Judge and Soto in whichever corner you decide to put them in." 

San Diego sent Grisham to the Yankees as part of the Soto trade.