Aaron Judge to injured list with toe injury, Yankees say

NEW YORK - After three days of intrigue regarding Aaron Judge's aching right big toe, the Yankees announced Tuesday night that the reigning AL MVP was headed to the 10-day injury list.

There's no fracture, according to manager Aaron Boone, but Judge was diagnosed with a contusion and a ligament sprain, with no official timeline for his return back to the lineup.

And yet, "I think it definitely could have been worse,'' Boone said after the Yankees' 3-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox at the Stadium. "Hopefully, it's on the shorter side of things.

"The biggest thing is getting the swelling out of there now.''

Judge was not made available after the game, but lefty Nestor Cortes - diagnosed with a small shoulder sprain - said he was in a no-throw situation for 15 days and will be re-evaluated about June 16.

Both Judge and Cortes received platelet rich plasma (PRP) injections for their injuries.

Completing the parade of players examined Tuesday by team physician, Dr. Christopher Ahmad, right-hander Ryan Weber has a strained ulnar collateral ligament. Rehab and surgical options are currently being weighed.

But how do you properly measure the loss of Judge, May's AL Player of the Month and the league's home run leader (19), who last month missed 10 games due to a hip strain?

The Yanks lost six of those 10 games.

Boone emphasized the need to "play our game and expect to still go out and rack up victories'' with Judge on the shelf.

"That's the focus, that's the goal. Nothing changes,'' Boone said. "Obviously, we hate being without Aaron for any amount of time, but it's part of the game sometimes, and we'll manage.''

As it happened, the right-field wall at Dodger Stadium exacted a greater toll than originally thought.

In Saturday's 6-3 win at Los Angeles, Judge made a spectacular running catch at the fence, forcing the visiting bullpen door open briefly by the impact of the 6-foot-7, 280-pound Yankees captain.

But the damage was done by Judge's right foot slamming into the concrete base of that wall.

According to reports Tuesday from Los Angeles, the Dodgers now plan to place padding over the concrete and will reinforce the chain-link gate dented by Judge's collision.

From a leadership and performance standpoint, Josh Donaldson said, "We’re really going to have to come together as a team and grind out at-bats, play good defense, throw the ball well.

"And hopefully keep winning ballgames until he gets back.’’

Lefty hitters Jake Bauers and Willie Calhoun will continue to get playing time in Judge's absence, along with recently recalled switch-hitter Oswaldo Cabrera.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa has been the regular center fielder with the absence of Harrison Bader (hamstring), who might return from the IL as early as next week.

Bader has been ramping up his baseball activity recently and feels he's turned a corner in his recover.

Boone mentioned that Giancarlo Stanton would begin ramping up his outfield work this week, as planned, but "I don't want to speed it up because'' of Judge's absence.

Stanton recently arrived in the lineup after six weeks on the IL due to a hamstring strain, so "we need to (play it) smart with Giancarlo as well.''

Meanwhile, Cortes had hoped he'd need to skip just two or three starts before returning to the rotation, but he's likely looking at a sometime-in-July return with this diagnosis.

Of his two-week no-throw assessment, "Hopefully it's a little sooner,'' said Cortes, adding that "it's a bummer'' to be out of action.

Rookie right-hander Randy Vasquez will be called up to replace Cortes on Wednesday night against the White Sox.

Cortes had lately been finding it difficult to recover between starts, and finally said something to the Yankees' training staff last week in Los Angeles, a day before he was scheduled to throw his regular bullpen.