Tiki Barber repeats fears about Yankees star Aaron Judge's injury

Retired New York Giants running back Tiki Barber is even more worried about New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge following Tuesday's update. 

"When you start talking with surgery on the toe, it's not gonna heal on its own or start to feel better…when the conversation turns to surgery on a toe, you worry," Barber said during Wednesday's edition of his WFAN program, per Ryan Chichester of Audacy. "I’ve had this injury before...that toe, to this day, still bothers me. I have a big lump on the side because it calcified and became basically bone." 

Barber dealt with toe injuries on multiple occasions during his NFL career and previously shared similar fears about Judge's recovery from a torn ligament in his big right toe that's kept him out of the lineup since June 3. On Tuesday, Judge acknowledged he wants to avoid surgery until the offseason, if possible, and that he hasn't yet resumed running. 

Judge added he does not think the toe "will ever feel normal." There's no timeline for when the reigning American League Most Valuable Player could return, and Joe Pantorno of AM New York Metro noted that the Yankees went 13-13 across the first 26 games of Judge's latest stint on the injured list. 

To their credit, the 48-38 Bronx Bombers won five of their last seven games heading into Wednesday's home matchup against the Baltimore Orioles (49-35). 

"When I start hearing Aaron Judge and this Yankees organization think and start talking about surgery on a big toe, I start to worry, because you don’t heal from big toe injuries, and if you’re big like Aaron Judge, and you have this massive weight shift that goes onto his back foot, just to swing the bat, you worry that it’s never going to get right," Barber explained. "...It’s something that can change Aaron Judge’s career forever."

The Judge-less Yankees entered Wednesday evening in possession of a wild-card playoff berth but also trailed the first-place Tampa Bay Rays by eight games in the AL East standings at that time.