Yankees news: Aaron Judge dealing with leg stiffness, expects to be back soon

Yahoo Sports: As you likely know by now, Aaron Judge exited yesterday’s game early when Heliot Ramos pinch-hit for him in the sixth. The Yankees announced it midgame as “lower leg tightness.” It’s some relief I suppose that Judge didn’t re-aggravate the rib fracture that kept him out for over three months, and Judge himself downplayed the seriousness of the ailment after the game.

“We’re still trying to ramp up so there’s still going to be little things like this that come up,” Judge said after the Yankees 13-inning loss to the Twins. “I just thought it would be best instead of pushing through it like I normally do.” Judge seemed to view his exit from the game as precautionary, and likened it to the type of thing that would happen in spring training when small, nagging things pop up as players get back into playing shape.

MLB.com | Patrick Donnelly: Clarke Schmidt came off the 60-day injured list yesterday, something we saw coming; he allowed two hits but got two strikeouts while facing four batters in his first MLB action since July 3, 2025. What we didn’t see coming was who was pushed off the roster to make room for Schmidt: fan favorite Oswaldo Cabrera. The utilityman Cabrera had spent most of the year at Triple-A, hitting .288 with 19 homers and a .790 OPS, but hasn’t spent much time with the big club ever since suffering a brutal ankle injury in a play at home plate last May. Cabrera seems likely to be claimed on waivers, meaning his time in the Bronx is likely to come to an end after being a member of the organization since signing at age-16 in July 2015.

The Athletic | Brendan Kuty: ($) Spencer Jones has been a bit of a revelation for the Yankees this year, producing at a high level across the outfield throughout the summer. He’s benefited from shadowing another big lefty swinger in the outfield: Cody Bellinger. Bellinger is only 31, but has a very long and decorated track record for a player his age, something Jones has tried to tap into during his time with the Yankees. “As a young guy, I can’t help but watch every time he’s up there,” Jones said of Bellinger. “When we are in the dugout,” Jones said, “he’s one of those people I can go up to and ask, like, ‘Yo, what did you see?’ He’ll tell me bluntly what he saw, how he saw it, and essentially what he’s going to do next time.”

New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: Ryan Weathers cleared a key hurdle in his rehab earlier this week, tossing 15 pitches in a bullpen session and sitting 87-90 mph on his fastball. The hope, if things go right, is for the lefty to get into game action before the regular season ends. It’s a tight timeline, but with Weathers set to throw another bullpen on Friday before perhaps facing live hitters early next week, it’s doable. The Yankees could certainly use his arm in the bullpen as they try to sort out what their playoff relief corps will look like.

FanGraphs | Davy Andrews: This here isn’t news, but it is fun. Andrews discusses the Amazon TV show Reacher, in which the titular character tries to maintain a low profile by checking into hotels under aliases, which are always Yankees second basemen. The problem, of course, is that Reacher’s cover is often blown, because Yankee second basemen are frequently famous people with recognizable names (don’t choose “Starlin Castro” as your alias if you’re trying not to attract attention!). So, Andrews endeavors to help Reacher by finding players who played second base for the Yankees who would help Reacher stay undercover. Good aliases include second basemen from New York’s Higlander days, like Joe Ward, and Otis Johnson. The worst possible aliases Andrews found? Robinson Canó and Mickey Mantle.