Everyone with an interest in the New York Yankees can breathe a sigh of relief following the most recent comments made by manager Aaron Boone about the injury status updates on two of their star players.
Aaron Judge's abdominal injury raised more concern than initially expected when his initial return date was pushed back and he didn't do batting practice on Monday despite it being scheduled.
There was fear that another superstar Yankee could be missing time at the beginning of the season, following the disappointing news about ace Gerrit Cole.
Boone expected Judge to play in the Spring Training game on Wednesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, but based on those previous timetable pushbacks, it was unknown whether that would actually happen.
However, the skipper confirmed during his appearance on the Talkin' Yanks podcast that the slugger will be back in action for that game.
"I do feel like he is playing tomorrow. That's my plan. I've sent out the lineup with him in it," Boone said.
Even if New York makes adjustments to those plans again, it's not something they're concerned about since they are just "being really cautious" so that this injury "doesn’t turn into something."
The lack of worry probably comes from the Yankees getting news that Judge has no abdominal muscle tear.
"He really just experienced some soreness in that core area, but that's why I think they were super cautious with going and making sure they got some images of it. It didn't show anything, so we've just been treating it and making sure he's ramped up and good to go," the manager explained.
That's fantastic news.
Boone also gave an update on DJ LeMahieu, who was initially feared to have suffered a "pretty significant" injury with a bone bruise in his foot.
But, there was more positive news on that front.
After it seemed like he could miss extended time, now it doesn't look like he'll be out long at all, even if he isn't ready for Opening Day.
"I'm just kind of non-committal on it," Boone said when asked about if LeMahieu would be put on the injured list. "I just want to make sure he's good to go when we start. The news we've gotten on him is good. He's even in here today on the off day and looks even better today."
The manager reiterated that this diagnosis was very fortunate for New York since they initially feared the worst.
So, the Yankees finally got some positive news surrounding the health of their team as they inch closer and closer to Opening Day.
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