Confessions of a Not-So-Dangerous Mind*
Oct 10, 2026 · 26 min · 9 segments
Among the strangest years in franchise history. Judge missed 2/3 of the season, Stanton barely played, Rodon missed 40% of the season, Fried missed more than a third, Cole was out just under 8 weeks…
So I'm going to start off with the season ending ignominiously, getting swept by the team they were neck and neck with the entire season, the Tampa Bay Rays.
I'm going to start with the obvious stuff that I think percentage, the high percentage of Yankee fans would agree with.
First problem is, from a broad sense, the Yankees have wasted Aaron Judge's prime.
Maybe wasted is too big of a word, but if the goal is to win championships, they've wasted his prime.
Even if he can still hit exactly as he has, they can't put him in the field anymore.
He's got to be a DH, and they need to tell him, don't even run 50%, just jog to first.
It's more important that he's able to play offense than do the rest of his game at this point, because if they put him out in center field or right field next season, he will not make it more than two weeks.
He will strain a calf, he will strain a hamstring, he will tear a hamstring, and he will not play.
The organization needs to think this through because there's no reason why he can't still hit 50 or 60 home runs, but he's got to be able to answer the bell.
And historically speaking, it doesn't look good because even players such as Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, who were, let's just say, more baseball player looking athletes than Aaron Judge, who is more of a football player looking athlete.
But at a certain point in the careers of both Jeter and A-Rod, they never got hurt.
And then all of a sudden, especially A-Rod, and I'm not going to say it was because of drugs, the body breaks down.
And even a sport like baseball, which is a very, in the immortal words of Liam Neeson, a very particular and very specific set of skills, the human body is not meant to sustain itself doing that for 162 games a season.
So they gotta think long and hard, that's what she said, what are you gonna do with Judge? Are you gonna pretend that this was all a fluke? Because earlier in his career, Judge did have a lot of injuries which seemed like flukes and had nothing to do with normal wear and tear as people get older, and they're more likely to get injured playing a sport, even a sport as gentle, relatively speaking, as baseball.
So I'm going to start off with the season ending ignominiously, getting swept by the team they were neck and neck with the entire season, the Tampa Bay Rays.
I'm going to start with the obvious stuff that I think percentage, the high percentage of Yankee fans would agree with.
First problem is, from a broad sense, the Yankees have wasted Aaron Judge's prime.
Maybe wasted is too big of a word, but if the goal is to win championships, they've wasted his prime.
Even if he can still hit exactly as he has, they can't put him in the field anymore.
He's got to be a DH, and they need to tell him, don't even run 50%, just jog to first.
It's more important that he's able to play offense than do the rest of his game at this point, because if they put him out in center field or right field next season, he will not make it more than two weeks.
He will strain a calf, he will strain a hamstring, he will tear a hamstring, and he will not play.
The organization needs to think this through because there's no reason why he can't still hit 50 or 60 home runs, but he's got to be able to answer the bell.
And historically speaking, it doesn't look good because even players such as Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, who were, let's just say, more baseball player looking athletes than Aaron Judge, who is more of a football player looking athlete.
But at a certain point in the careers of both Jeter and A-Rod, they never got hurt.
And then all of a sudden, especially A-Rod, and I'm not going to say it was because of drugs, the body breaks down.
And even a sport like baseball, which is a very, in the immortal words of Liam Neeson, a very particular and very specific set of skills, the human body is not meant to sustain itself doing that for 162 games a season.
So they gotta think long and hard, that's what she said, what are you gonna do with Judge? Are you gonna pretend that this was all a fluke? Because earlier in his career, Judge did have a lot of injuries which seemed like flukes and had nothing to do with normal wear and tear as people get older, and they're more likely to get injured playing a sport, even a sport as gentle, relatively speaking, as baseball.
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