On today’s edition of The Sal Licata Show, a day after winning a New York Emmy for his work as an anchor on Baseball Night in New York, Sal argued that Aaron Judge is picking the wrong fight with Aaron Boone. Boone said the Yankees aren’t expecting Judge back from a right calf strain for the Wild Card Series, and Judge answered that he plans to play anyway.
Same Fight, Second Year
This happened last season too. Boone said on the show that Judge’s arm wouldn’t be 100 percent coming off the IL, and Judge took issue with it. Boone was being straight with people then, and he’s being straight now. “Boone never said Judge was out. He was just being transparent.”
Calf strains take weeks, and the Wild Card Series opens Tuesday. “This type of injury generally takes a few weeks. You guys do the math. The schedule says we’re playing next week.” Judge’s line about getting his body ready doesn’t settle anything. “The answer is, are you playing or are you not?”
“It felt like Judge flexing his power within the Yankee organization.”
The frustration makes sense, since nobody wants to miss Red Sox-Yankees in October in the Bronx. Talking about playing right field on a strained calf is where it stops adding up. “I feel like he wants to sound like a conquering superhero.” That raises an awkward question about a season in which the Yankees lost the division: “Was he not hurt in the regular season? What happened to that body? That’s different from everybody else.”
The one thing that could change the outlook is Giancarlo Stanton, who’s been running around in the outfield and taking live batting practice in Double-A after a calf strain that looked like it could end his season. A Tuesday lineup with both Judge and Stanton in it “would change the way that I feel about the Yankees going into this wild card series.” Until that happens, the pick is Boston: “Right now, I would favor, unfortunately, I think the Sox, even with Cam Schlittler likely going in game one.”
One More Thing
The Giants’ Jimmy Garoppolo buzz is about finding a backup. “Jimmy G at this point, he’s toast.” “Jameis Winston is their best option, period, end of story.” The anger goes to Joe Schoen, who said Jaxson Dart would be OK before the MRI showed a season-ending injury. Misleading the fan base like that should have cost Schoen his job, and he “should have been fired to begin with.” The season isn’t over yet, though: “I’m not ready to throw in the towel on the season yet.”
Watch the episode below and catch The Sal Licata Show every weekday at 9 a.m. on YouTube.