RESOLVING THE LEDGER
This is one outlet's own report from Yahoo Sports — the article as it was filed. Other outlets are covering the same event; open the full story to compare every source side by side.
See the full story · 1 sources
NEW YORK — Standing at his locker Friday afternoon, Yankees third baseman Ryan McMahon covered his injured left thumb with his right hand when a pack of media headed his way so no one could see his injury.
YES field reporter Meredith Marakovits asked for the first question:
What’s the severity of the injury?
McMahon didn’t answer immediately. He was hesitant to share details before getting the go ahead from media relations VP Jason Zillo, who was standing nearby, to be completely honest.
“Grade 2,” he finally admitted. “That’s what they told me. Not great news.”
McMahon thought he’d just jammed his thumb, not suffered a Grade 2 sprain that forced the Yankees to tweak their musical-chairs roster yet again.
Although the Yanks still are winning a lot more than they’re losing, they’ve been hard-pressed to score three runs a game for a couple months because they have so many key hitters down and a fourth starting position player was just added to the injured list.
But despite the severity, McMahon vowed to make a very quick return before the Yankees used more great pitching Friday night to beat the Blue Jays 3-1 at Yankee Stadium.
A day later, this news was overshadowed by two injury updates - one good, one terrible.
Left fielder Cody Bellinger will be coming off the IL Sunday after playing two Triple-A rehab games Thursday and Friday, but Giancarlo Stanton’s potential comeback is off .. and maybe for the season.
What about Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and the others?
Here are updates on all seven Yankees who are on the IL:
GIANCARLO STANTON , DH
Injury: Right calf strain.
Status: 10-day IL since April 28 (backdated to April 25).
Missed games: 103.
Expected return: Late August or September.
2026 stats: .256 average, 23-for-90, 3 HR, 14 RBI, 1 SB, 6 BB, 29 K, .724 OPS, 24 games.
The latest: Stanton was close to be cleared for a rehab assignment when he fell down and strained his left calf while running the bases Thursday at Yankee Stadium. His new strain is a moderate strain that typically requires a three-to-week recovery period, but Stanton typically is very slow to get over injuries and the Yankees’ regular season will be down to four weeks after Sunday’s game. Could Stanton return late in the season and be available for the playoffs? “We’re not rulling anything out,” manager Aaron Boone said. If Stanton is able to come off the IL at some point, he’ll likely be in a platoon DH or pinch-hitter role, which is a whole other issue.
CODY BELLINGER, LF
Injury: Grade 2 left hamstring strain.
Status: 10-day IL since July 26.
Missed games: 25.
Expected return: Sunday, Aug. 23.
2026 stats: .259 average, 97-for-374, 11 HR, 53 RBI, 10 SB, 55 BB, 70 K, .770 OPS, 102 games.
The latest: Bellinger will be back with the Yankees for Sunday’s series finale with the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium. Bellinger played a second rehab game in two nights Friday with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, going 0-for-3 with a strikeout while playing six innings of left field. On Thursday, he was 1-for-3 DHing in a rain-shortened seven inning game. Bellinger said before Saturday’s game that he hasn’t felt any discomfort for about four or five and his hamstring passed tests Saturday when he ran down a couple flyballs.
RYAN MCMAHON, 3B
Injury: Grade 2 left thumb strain.
Status: 10-day IL since Aug. 21 (backdated to Aug. 20).
Missed games: 3.
Expected return: Aug. 31.
2026 stats: .216 average, 60-for-278, 10 HR, 32 RBI, 2 SB, 24 BB, 93 K, .649 OPS, 106 games.
The latest: McMahon thinks that he’ll be back in 10 days even though his injury is a grade 2 strain that can take a month to heal. McMahon, who was injured sliding into second base Thursday in Baltimore unsuccessfully trying to stretch a run-scoring single into a double, already was hitting in the cage Friday.
McMahon on Aug. 21: “Hopefully just the 10 days. I was able to get in there, take some swings. I like to think I have a high pain tolerance.”
AARON JUDGE , RF
Injury: Right rib stress fracture.
Status: 10-day IL since June 5 (backdated to June 2).
Missed games: 70.
Expected return: September.
2026 stats: .248 average, 53-for-214, 17 HR, 38 RBI, 5 SB, 42 BB, 72 K, .907 OPS, 59 games.
The latest: Judge’s first swings since his last game, May 31 in Sacramento, were hitting off a tee Wednesday. He’s done that three days in a row. His next step will be hitting underhand tosses in a cage, then he’ll graduate to BP. This progression could take a couple weeks, but Judge probably will be pushing the Yankees to speed up the process if he’s feeling good. He’s missed so much time that he’s going to need to play a few rehab games. The first or second week of September could be when Judge is back with the Yankees. That would give him two or three weeks to knock off the rust before the playoffs.
MAX FRIED, LHP
Injury: Left elbow bone bruise.
Status: 15-day IL since Aug. 17 (retro to Aug. 14).
Missed games: 11.
Expected return: Late August or early September.
2026 stats: 4-4, 2.81 ERA, 15 games, 86.1 IP, 59 hits, 27 runs, 27 ER, 2 HR, 27 BB, 79 K.
The latest: Fried is determined to be off the IL in 15 days after being sidelined from May 14 to July 22 with the same injury because this discomfort isn’t as severe as it was earlier this season. Nine days after his last outing, Fried threw a bullpen Saturday. If that goes well, he’ll throw a live BP early next week and be slotted into the rotation for Aug. 30, the first day he’s eligible to come off the IL.
Fried on Aug. 21: “Before was definitely more intense, more pain. I would say that it was something that felt similar, but at a smaller scale and I just wanted to be as transparent as I could be with the medical staff and the coaching staff knowing that we have a big goal at hand, and I want to be able to take the ball. I was willing to (keep pitching), but we decided that it was it was better to just take a little bit of a breather now, so the rest of the season hopefully goes accordin...
AIPROPX is an independent multi-source news index — we track, compare, and connect coverage from across the web into one place you won't find anywhere else.