Last year, Aaron Judge tore a ligament in his right big toe after crashing into exposed concrete along the outfield wall at Dodger Stadium.
The injury caused the New York Yankees slugger, and then-reigning MVP, to miss 42 games, and without him, the Bombers struggled immensely.
They were three games under .500 when Judge was out, and it was clear that upon returning, Judge wasn't 100%, leading to further struggles.
In the first 49 games following his return from the injury, although continuing to walk and hit home runs at great rates, he did hit just .218 while DHing much more often than planned and wearing added protection on his cleats (in his final eight games, he hit .407 with a 1.654 OPS).
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From June 6 to Aug. 27, the Yankees went 26-43, marking their worst prolonged stretch in a generation. The cold streak put them in danger of finishing under .500 for the first time since 1993, but they narrowly kept their streak alive with an 82-80 record — but that resulted in their first missed postseason since 2016.
The good news is Judge has had an entire offseason to get fully healthy, but the bad news is, apparently, that might not be enough.
In his first media availability of spring training, Judge said that he and the Yankees will have to keep a "constant" eye on his toe as long as he is playing baseball.
"It’s going to be, I think, a constant maintenance, I think [for] the rest of my career," Judge said Tuesday. "Anything with injuries like that, you just got to stay on top of it so it doesn’t flare up again."
Judge has missed 30-plus games four times in his career thanks to myriad injuries. Although, it should be noted that, unlike his teammate in Giancarlo Stanton, most of Judge's injuries have been bone injuries, rather than soft tissue and muscles.
And when he's on the field, he's one of the best players in baseball. He broke the AL record with 62 home runs in 2022 while hitting .311, en route to an MVP Award, which he parlayed into a record-breaking nine-year, $360 million contract. His $40 million AAV was the largest given to a position player.
That also was no fluke. His .993 OPS since 2017 is the second-best in baseball, behind Mike Trout. Even last year, he managed to finish with a 1.019 OPS, and his 37 homers in 106 games put him on pace for 56 in 162.
But last year was the first of Judge's nine-year pact, so hearing that their best player, who simply makes their team go round, needs "constant maintenance" on an injury that seemed harmless at first isn't exactly good news.
The Yankees kick off their season on March 28 in Houston against their arch-nemesis Astros.
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