The American League champion New York Yankees have received quite a bit of bad news on the injury front throughout spring training. Most of those injuries have been to the team’s starting pitchers and that could have negative implications in the first few months of the season. However, team captain Aaron Judge is refusing to let injuries to ace Gerrit Cole, solid starter Luis Gil and dependable Clarke Schmidt put him in a negative state of mind regarding the Yankees’ prospects for the 2025 season.
Cole is scheduled to be out for the full season as a result of elbow issues that resulted in Tommy John surgery. Gil is also expected to miss significant time and Schmidt is contending with shoulder problems that could conceivably impact his pitching delivery for several weeks.
The offense took a hit in the offseason when Juan Soto signed with the cross-town Mets and veteran slugger Giancarlo Stanton is also sidelined with injuries. Judge said his team still has plenty of talent to compete in the American League.
“You miss Gerrit Cole, one of the best pitchers in the game… Luis Gil, who emerged as probably our second-best starter last season… and Big G (Giancarlo Stanton) not being in there,” Judge said, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. “You can’t replace a Cole. You can’t replace a Luis Gil. But I think we’ve got some young guys who are going to step up. We’ve still got a good ballclub here.”
Yankees have multiple weapons despite injuries
The Yankees have added three key veterans in the offseason and manager Aaron Boone knows that he will to count on Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger to make up for the loss of Soto and the injury to Stanton. They also added star pitcher Max Fried from the Atlanta Braves.
The Yankees are also counting on relative youngsters like Jazz Chisholm, Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells. Judge said he has also been impressed by Ben Rice. “What Rice is doing, the adjustments he’s making are incredible to watch. And I love seeing Will Warren’s progress. He’s a guy who’s continuing to take that next step.”
Of course, Judge is going to have to come through with a major contribution himself if the Yankees are going to stay at or near the top of the American League East.
Judge had one of his best seasons in 2024 when he slashed .322/.459/.701 with 58 home runs and 144 runs batted in. Judge led the American League in those last two power categories.
He has won the American League Most Valuable Player twice in his career, the Silver Slugger four times and he has been an American League All-Star six times.
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