Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Monday that the team is "still very optimistic" that Judge (ribs) will return this season, Bryan Hoch of MLB.com reports.
Cashman explained that "there's a very high likelihood" Judge will be able to recover from the fracture in his right ribs in time to play again this season but acknowledged that "there's challenges with all that too." Naturally, Judge's return could be impacted by New York's place in the standings, and the team currently sits 3.5 games out of first place in the AL East but a comfortable six games up for a wild-card spot. Judge hasn't played since May 31, and he's yet to resume baseball activities, so despite Cashman's optimism, the slugger doesn't appear anywhere close to rejoining the big-league club.