BOSTON — Aaron Judge was held out of Thursday’s series opener against the Red Sox due to “lower-body soreness,” Aaron Boone said — specifically his calves, something the slugger has dealt with in prior seasons.
The Yankees entered Thursday with a 14-game lead over the second-place Red Sox in the AL East but can still hardly afford to lose Judge for an extended period of time. Both Boone and general manager Brian Cashman said Thursday they expect it to be a day-to-day situation.
“The last couple nights there was tightness in his lower calf,’’ Boone said before the game at Fenway Park. “The idea is for him to be back in there [Friday]. It’s not something I’m overly concerned about. It’s more important to get out ahead of it and make sure it doesn’t turn into something big. It’s not something we wanted to mess around with.”
Certainly not with a sizable lead in the division and with Judge in the midst of an MVP-caliber season.
After being rested Sunday in Cleveland, when he was limited to a pinch-hit appearance in a loss to the Guardians, the Yankees had an off day on Monday before Judge played both games in Pittsburgh.
“He was feeling it more the last couple days,’’ Boone said. “He’s grinding through a lot in this half [of the season]. We’ll make sure it’s not a bigger issue. … You don’t want to mess with it, especially where we are in the season.”
Wednesday, Judge hit a grand slam for his MLB-best 30th homer.
With the season he’s having, Judge has been at the forefront of the AL MVP conversation, along with the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani, and Cashman said he was pulling for Judge to win it as he potentially heads toward free agency.
“The season he’s having is remarkable,’’ Cashman said. “Obviously, no one wants him to win the MVP more than we do. We want our players to be the best they can possibly be, and he’s standing tall. I look forward to him leading us the whole way, hopefully.”
Judge had been 2-for-16 before his three-hit night in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, including the grand slam.
He’s been as integral as anyone to the Yankees’ improvement over last season, but Boone noted how much more solid the entire team is than when it lost the wild-card game at Fenway Park last year.
“We’re better in every way,’’ Boone said. “Last year was a hard year for us. In a lot of ways, us winning 92 games was a pretty good feat for all the things we went through.”
Boone pointed to “all the little things we’ve really invested a lot into,” including baserunning and defense, as well as some changes in personnel.
One part of the team that hasn’t changed is Judge.
Cashman said he was happy to avoid an arbitration hearing with the star by agreeing to a $19 million deal for this season, with Judge having an opportunity to earn $500,000 in bonuses as World Series MVP and, yes, AL MVP.
“It’s nice to get something like that behind you,’’ Cashman said of arbitration.
And he reiterated that there would be no public discussions of any potential extension talks between the two sides during the season, per Judge’s wishes.
“That doesn’t mean a conversation will or will not take place,’’ the GM said.