Yankees Trade Targets and Lineup Changes Needed to Survive Aaron Judge Rib Injury

Aaron Judge won't be taking any at-bats any time soon, and that's not a problem the New York Yankees can simply hope to sidestep.

The three-time AL MVP has been diagnosed with a stress fracture of the first rib on his right side. He'll be reimaged in four to six weeks, which puts the best-case scenario for his return somewhere in August.

Again, this is the best-case scenario. Judge may need more than four to six weeks to heal. And as Chris Kirschner of The Athletic notes, it's still unknown whether Judge actually has thoracic outlet syndrome. If he does, that would almost certainly require season-ending surgery.

For now, losing Judge for as long as six weeks is a brutal blow to the Yankees, who are 0.5 games out of first place in the AL East at 37-25. He hadn't been living up to his best seasons through the first two months, but he's still taking a .907 OPS and 17 home runs with him to the injured list.

So, let's dive deeper into how the Yankees can survive his absence.

The Yankees Should Monitor These Trade Targets

The trade deadline is August 3, and the Yankees figured to be aggressive buyers even before Judge's injury. Now, it's definitely not too soon for general manager Brian Cashman to put names on a big board.

Decent: Isaac Paredes, Houston Astros

Judge is a right fielder, whereas Paredes is a third baseman. But that is a position where an upgrade over Ryan McMahon would be welcome, and the appeal of Paredes is all in a right-handed stick that produces decent power. He has 100 home runs in 624 career games.

Good: Jo Adell, Los Angeles Angels

Of all the right-handed-hitting outfielders in MLB today, Adell is one of the only ones who offers anything remotely close to Judge's power. He hit 57 home runs across 2024 and 2025, and the Yankees know firsthand that he still packs a wallop in 2026.

Better: Taylor Ward, Baltimore Orioles

Ward is another righty-hitting outfielder who typically prioritizes power, averaging 29.1 home runs per 162 games between 2022 and 2025. He's since thrown his weight behind getting on base, which he's done at a .404 clip this year.

Best: Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins

This is the button Cashman must try to push if Judge's injury timeline takes a turn for the worse. Buxton has plenty of injury baggage in his own right, but his pure talent is undeniable when healthy. Since 2021, his 162-game averages include a 134 OPS+, 42 home runs, 19 stolen bases and 6.2 rWAR.

Nuclear: Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers

Instead of trying to find some sort of facsimile or stand-in for Judge, the Yankees could always double down on a pitching staff that leads the AL with a 3.28 ERA.

To this end, Skubal is the prize of all prizes on the summer trade market. He won't come cheap even as a rental ahead of free agency, but the Yankees might have enough to score the two-time Cy Young Award winner in a blockbuster.

The Yankees Can Make These In-House Solutions

Since the trade deadline is still two months away, the Yankees have time to try and sort things out with what they have. That starts tonight against the Boston Red Sox, with a lineup that will ideally look like this:

Optimizing the Yankees Lineup Right Now

1. CF Trent Grisham (L)
2. DH Ben Rice (L)
3. 1B Paul Goldschmidt (R)
4. LF Cody Bellinger (L)
5. 2B Jazz Chisholm Jr. (L)
6. SS José Caballero (R)
7. 3B Ryan McMahon (L)
8. RF Spencer Jones (L)
9. C Austin Wells (L)

Sans Judge, the first thing you notice is just how left-handed the Yankees are. And that much more so if Jones, who has been recalled from Triple-A, is the first man up in right field.

If nothing else, the 6'7", 240-pounder has booming power akin to Judge's. However, there isn't a more whiff- and strikeout-prone hitter in the high levels of professional baseball, and the Yankees got a taste of that when Jones fanned 12 times in 27 plate appearances in his first MLB stint.

The Yankees can otherwise hope to combat their left-handedness by moving Goldschmidt up in the order and using Anthony Volpe, Amed Rosario and Max Schuemann off the bench as needed. On days when a lefty is starting for the opposition, they can counter with Volpe (SS) and Caballero (RF) in the starting nine.

Reinforcements Are Standing By

Fortunately, the Yankees can count on getting Giancarlo Stanton (calf strain) and Jasson Domínguez (shoulder strain) off the injured list sometime in mid-to-late June.

The 36-year-old Stanton has been a volatile presence for years now, and he only had a 101 OPS+ when he went on the IL in April. But the power is obviously there, and he showed last season that he can still play the outfield in a pinch.

Even if Domínguez is volatile in his own right, he at least offers a solid .772 OPS against right-handed pitching. He could make for an ideal platoon partner with Caballero, who has a .741 OPS against lefties.

The Yankees' Goal Hasn't Changed

Nothing about the Judge news is good, but the Yankees can take heart in knowing that their best defense against the wolves hasn't gone down while the wolves are at the door.

The Tampa Bay Rays were a fun story for a hot minute, but their early success never felt sustainable and now it's starting to collapse. They have lost eight out of 10, putting the Yankees in a position to take back the AL East lead as soon as Friday.

Every other team in the AL East is below .500, and the same is true of all but five teams in the American League. When FanGraphs says the Yankees have a 98 percent chance of making the playoffs, it's believable even in the context of Judge's injury.

Pitching can guide the way to October in the meantime. As mentioned, the Yankees already have the best run prevention of any AL team. And before long, they figure to have Max Fried back in their starting rotation alongside Gerrit Cole, Cam Schlittler, Carlos Rodón and Will Warren. They have also already decided that Carlos Lagrange and his 103 mph fastball are the medicine the bullpen needs.

In the face of Judge's injury, the Yankees can hold off on panic and go all-in on resolve. The goal should simply be to get to October and hope he's healthy enough by then to lend his bat to the cause of winning the franchise's first World Series since 2009.

The calculus can still change, of course. But if anyone dares say the Yankees are doomed without Judge, they might as well say the sky is literally falling.

Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.