The Athletic | Brendan Kuty ($): The headline around Tuesday making shockwaves around the team was Aaron Judge’s health, as manager Aaron Boone left him out of the lineup and then told reporters that Judge was diagnosed with a bone bruise in his ribs. Judge initially felt the injury affecting his shoulder during his swing, but during the series against the Athletics it became worse and prompted further examination. Boone said that the team was hopeful that they caught it early enough to not be a long-term injury, but any time that the Captain is dealing with an injury everyone’s breath is going to be collectively held. At the very least, it does explain why Judge had been performing rather poorly at the plate of late, and if he does return soon hopefully he can rebound back to his April form.
MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Cam Schlittler just didn’t have it against the Guardians on Tuesday, coughing up five runs (four earned) in 4.1 innings. While the overall results weren’t too worrying with the prodigal ace on a tear of late, pitching to a 1.07 ERA in his previous eight starts, the one concerning note is that Schlittler wasn’t able to find his fastball, and it was down in velocity. A similar issue popped up in his previous start against Kansas City, and Schlittler believes that “the mechanics just kind of got away from me a little bit there,” in terms of adjusting on the fly against Cleveland, leading to uncompetitive at-bats and the hole that he dug himself into. Hopefully it’s just a blip on the radar and Schlittler is able to find the adjustments he needs to get the heater back on track, but it’s something to monitor for now.
NY Daily News | Gary Phillips: The bullpen is an area of obvious need for New York, and while there will certainly be improvements available via trade closer to the deadline they’re also lining up some internal improvements as well. One of their top pitching prospects, Carlos Lagrange, is being moved over to the bullpen with the aim of fast-tracking him into a role with the big league club this year. Long-term, the Yankees are still quite hopeful that Lagrange will play in their rotation for years to come, but with the current pitching staff lacking in relievers and the rotation loaded with capable arms this is the move they could make to best help themselves in the immediate future.
NJ.com | Bob Klapisch: The Yankees won’t have Max Fried back for a minute still, as the team’s top pitcher last year is just now starting to play catch following an IL stint for a bone bruise, but that hasn’t stopped speculation about what the Yankees will do with their rotation once they’re back to full strength. The conversation around Will Warren or Ryan Weathers moving down to the bullpen has been debated since Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón were approaching their returns, but with over half the rotation having been on the IL at some point as well as Cam Schlittler having dealt with a back issue during the start of camp, Klapisch proposes the use of a six-man rotation. It’d be the best bet for keeping everyone fresh for October, though with how untrustworthy the bullpen’s been this year having them short a man might not be the best decision.
