Jul 23, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; New York Yankees designated hitter Aaron Judge (99) hits a two run home run against the Toronto Blue Jays in the sixth inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images

Jeff Passan Gives Scary Forecast on Yankees' Aaron Judge

Originally posted on New York Yankees on SI
By Erin Shapland | Last updated Jul 28, 2025 7:00 AM ET

The news of Aaron Judge's injury isn't great, but the New York Yankees are taking it on the chin for the most part. They've made some roster moves, and by all accounts, the powers that be are expecting him to be right as rain in a week and a half. Unfortunately, there is at least one expert who says otherwise.

Jeff Passan, MLB senior insider and author of The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports gave his two cents on Judge's likeliest recovery timeline, and he wasn't optimistic.

"The hope that the Yankees have right now is that the injured list stint can be held to the 10-day minimum, and that Aaron Judge will be back in the lineup in a week and a half," Passan said. "Is that a realistic thing? We're about to find out, because when it comes to flexor strains, there are different timelines depending on the severity and the response to the rest that he's having now."

"It can be a couple of weeks, it can be a couple of months. Quite often a flexor strain is a precursor to a UCL sprain or tear, and so they really have to take care of Aaron Judge right now. Yet, because of the Yankees struggles lately, they don't want to keep him out too long and lose that bat much beyond those ten days, so it's a pretty precarious situation right now. Yes, they avoided the worst but they also have to be awfully careful."

The Arm came out back in 2017, but arms haven't changed much since then. Passan paints a grim picture, and unfortunately it's a well-researched one.

With the trade deadline just around the corner, it may be prudent for the Yankees to make moves with this reality check in mind. They've have proved they can hardly keep up with a perfectly healthy Judge in the lineup; there's no telling where they might be after a few weeks without him.

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