NEW YORK _ Brian Cashman believes Aaron Judge's right wrist fracture will heal and allow him to return before the end of the regular season.
But the Yankees GM isn't going to offer a timeline.
That horse left the barn a while ago.
"Judge will take as long as is necessary," Cashman said before Saturday afternoon's game against the Tigers. "If it's not right and it's not going to be right then you're not going to see him. But the anticipation is that we will see him."
It has been a slow-go for Judge, who suffered the chip fracture July 26 when he was hit by a 93-mph fastball thrown by Royals right-hander Jakob Junis.
The Yankees team physician, Dr. Christopher Ahmad, initially gave a time frame of three weeks for Judge's return, an optimistic prognosis and one, Cashman said, obviously was "off considerably."
Judge for a couple of weeks has been running in the outfield and playing some catch, but the right-fielder has not taken what would be the most significant step to this point of his rehab: picking up a bat. And each time he's been asked, Judge says he still feels pain in the wrist. Similar breaks typically take 4-6 weeks to heal.
Cashman said he was not upset with Ahmad, whom he called "an exceptional doctor."
"This is really the first time I can recall that's (a given timeline) been off," Cashman said.
Cashman said he does wish he could keep Judge, and manager Aaron Boone for that matter, from having to answer almost daily questions about the healing process.
"If I could wave a magic wand and ask everybody to stop asking him or Aaron for updates on a daily basis I would do that, but that's not realistic," Cashman said. "This is the largest media market in the world and you're talking about one of the better players in major league baseball. And so those questions rightfully come especially when you miss that timeline as much as you missed it. At some point you'll see him again, that's what they're telling us, that's all we can hope for. The only thing I can do is keep my fingers crossed that that time will be sooner than later. But when it will be, it will be."
