The New York Yankees had an extremely busy trade deadline as the franchise gears up to chase down the Tampa Bay Rays for the AL East title as the home stretch of the MLB season approaches. New York acquired slugger Luis Garcia Jr. from the Washington Nationals and outfielder from the San Francisco Giants.

The acquisitions will be critical for New York, which has been without its best player in the batter’s box, Aaron Judge, who hasn’t played since May 31 after suffering a right rib stress fracture on April 26 during a diving play.

Judge played through the injury for as long as he could, but ultimately, it just became too much to manage.

There was optimism that Judge would be back in time to help the Yankees make some noise in the postseason, but on Monday, longtime Yankee general manager and senior vice president Brian Cashman was brutally honest on the situation and revealed that while he remains hopeful that Judge will be back this season, it’s very far from a guarantee.

“We currently are still very optimistic that he’s going to return, but there’s challenges with all that too,” Cashman said, according to reporter Bruyan Hoch.

Brian Cashman on Aaron Judge: “We currently are still very optimistic that he’s going to return, but there’s challenges with all that too. … There’s a very high likelihood that he fits the time frame to come back and join us. That’s what I’m hoping and holding onto.”

— Bryan Hoch ⚾️ (@BryanHoch) August 3, 2026

“There’s a very high likelihood that he fits the time frame to come back and join us. That’s what I’m hoping and holding onto.”

Cashman’s words on the situation led to a concern that reverberated through Yankees fans on social media.

“They won’t come out and say he’s done for the season because then the stadium is going be empty,” one fan posted on X.

“Translation: He’s not returning and we wasted his career. Cash, Hal and the front office should be ashamed of themselves,” someone else added.

“Soooo translation is: ‘He’s not coming back this year, see you in 2028 when Judge is 36 and we’ve wasted his prime MVP seasons and then some gotcha,'” another fan wrote.

If Judge can’t make a return this year, it changes things drastically for a Yankees team that has to not only hold off the red-hot Boston Red Sox in the East.