NY YANKEES: AARON JUDGE BENCHED -- FINALLY

NY YANKEES: AARON JUDGE BENCHED -- FINALLY

By: Matthew Blittner

All-Rise has become All-Sit.

The man that inspired the phrase All-Rise for his prodigious home runs, now finds himself on the bench for multiple games.

A first-half that saw Aaron Judge establish himself as the odds-on-favorite for AL Rookie-of-the-Year and AL MVP honors, has given way to a nightmarish second-half.

After hitting .329 with 30 home runs heading into the All-Star break, Judge is hitting .174 with seven home runs since the break.

Watching his slugger struggle for two months, Manager Joe Girardi has finally given into common sense and sat down his burley right-fielder.

Per Girardi: “I’m probably going to give him a couple of days off to see if that’s something that helps him. Try to refresh him and get him going. He’s played in a lot of games and I’m probably going to give him a couple of days off.”

So, short of saying that Judge has been benched, Girardi has sugarcoated his decision by blaming Judge's extended slump on him needing rest.

In Judge's last 182 plate appearances he has struck-out 65 times! The Judgeman recently set the All-Time record for consecutive games with a strikeout, by doing so in 37 straight games. 

Will this brief reprieve from the starting lineup help Judge? 

If history is any indication, many players have been sat down for a few games only to come back and start hitting again. In that sense, Girardi made the right move, but why did he wait so long?

Shouldn't Joe have done this a month ago?

With Judge repeatedly failing in big spots, Girardi steadfastly refused to sit his slumping slugger, or to even drop him in the lineup. The most Girardi had done was to move Judge from third to fourth in the lineup and give him a couple of DH appearances. 

Had Joe been more proactive, perhaps Judge would already be out of his slump. Perhaps, if Judge had performed anywhere close to his first-half levels, the Yankees would be in first-place in the AL East, rather then 2.5 games back of the rival Boston Red Sox.

Too many times Judge came up with men on base -- or in scoring position -- only for Aaron to return to the dugout having either struck-out or popped up without giving the runners a chance to advance.

This mini-benching -- let's call a spade a spade -- should conceivably help to rejuvenate Judge, because if it doesn't then the only other option is to demote him to the minors, and I can assure you, that's not something the Yankees want to do.

All-Rise is All-Sitting for the next few games, but let's hope that he'll be making All-Rise again upon his return.