Yankees skipper Aaron Boone spoke at length with YES Network's Meredith Marakovits on Thursday about how his key players that were injured during spring training are currently feeling.
The first who was brought up was obvious: Aaron Judge. The All-Star outfielder was dealing with a stress fracture in his rib after a whole debacle that began with a sore throwing shoulder. While Boone didn't give an exact diagnosis, he did say that Judge is trending in the right direction.
"He's in Tampa. We're using this time, he's using this time to continue to heal," Boone said. "I don't really have much more for you other than obviously it's been very productive having the chance to have this time to allow that rib to heal and that is happening. As to where he's at exactly, we don't have anything for you on that yet."
There was no timetable set for Judge before MLB suspended spring training, but one would think that if/when the season returns, Judge should be able to go.
For his counterpart in Giancarlo Stanton, his Grade 1 calf strain was expected to have him ready on or close to Opening Day. Boone gave an update on him as well, saying he should definitely be cleared to play at this point.
"Giancarlo's doing well. He's still reporting in Tampa and going through his rehab," he said. "He's doing really well -- he should, when we get ready to go, he should certainly be ready to be back and part of things."
And finally, James Paxton's surgery to remove a cyst from his back had a timeframe or end-of-May/early-June before returning to the mound. He was shooting for mid-May, but either way, he should be able to come back.
He's been throwing bullpen sessions on his own, and after his latest one, Boone said the progression continues.
"James Paxton's done great," he explained. "Feel really good about the decision to go ahead with the surgery and every step of the way it's gone pretty smoothly for him. I think he threw, maybe, his fifth bullpen the other day and continues to report that it's going really well, so really encouraged where James is as well."
Because of the delayed start to the season -- MLB is still working tirelessly to see if they can salvage the year -- teams will likely have many of their injured players back to feature full rosters. The Yankees will be one of the biggest beneficiaries of that with these key cogs on their roster being able to take the field whenever that may be.