ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Yankees have not decided if Aaron Judge will be on their roster for the American League Division Series against the Rays as he continues to work his way back from a right calf strain, manager Aaron Boone said Friday.
The Yankees have until Saturday morning to submit their roster. Game 1 is scheduled for Saturday at 6:30 p.m. ET.
"We'll see," Boone said.
Judge has not played since straining his calf -- specifically his soleus muscle -- Sept. 16. The Yankees considered including him on their wild-card series roster but proceeded without him and still throttled the Red Sox, outscoring their rivals 18-2 in the two-game sweep at Yankee Stadium.
In his push to convince the team's brass he is ready, Judge faced live pitching at Yankee Stadium on Thursday and worked out at the organization's minor league complex in Tampa early Friday before joining the team for its afternoon workout at Tropicana Field. It was the third time this week the three-time MVP hit against live pitching. He took BP at Tropicana Field on Friday.
Though Judge also began running this week, Boone said he was not sure whether the slugger has run the bases yet. He indicated that running the bases is not a prerequisite for having Judge on the roster.
"Sometimes running the bases, they replicate things in other ways," Boone said. "The trainers will obviously play a big part in this. As the day unfolds, we'll see where we're at and what it potentially looks like for the series."
Boone said Tropicana Field's turf surface -- less than ideal for a 6-foot-7, 280-pound athlete coming off a calf injury -- will factor into the team's decision-making "a little bit" before hinting at the possibility of carrying Judge on the roster but him being limited early in the series.
"It's just as far as him and the field, potentially," Boone said. "But we're looking at the days, and so it's more, 'Is he going to be available at some point in this series, potentially, as a player?' That's what we're kind of weighing and then seeing where he's at now these last few days having taken live BP."
With Ben Rice entrenched at designated hitter and Paul Goldschmidt and Luis Garcia platooning at first base, Judge would ideally return to play right field. Judge has insisted that's his goal. If he's not cleared for that for the first two games, he could be used as a pinch hitter off the bench then and start playing in the field when the series goes to New York for Game 3 on Wednesday.
"I was thinking that Aaron Judge was going to be there a week ago just so I'm not devastated when he's on," Rays manager Kevin Cash said Friday. "I expect him playing right field, hitting third."
Giancarlo Stanton, who has not played in a game since sustaining a calf strain in April, was on the Yankees' wild-card series roster in that pinch-hitter role but didn't get an at-bat in either game. On Friday, Stanton, MLB's active home run leader, said he is "ready to go" for whatever is asked.
Ryan Weathers, another roster uncertainty, said he tossed a bullpen Wednesday after facing hitters Monday. He has not pitched in a game since Aug. 22, when he exited a start with a forearm flexor strain. If he is put on the roster, he would return as a one-inning reliever and likely wouldn't be cleared to pitch on consecutive days. "I don't know if there's been final decisions," Weathers said. "Obviously, I feel super healthy enough to be on it."
Boone said the team is considering whether to include 10, 11 or 12 pitchers on the roster after carrying 10 pitchers and 16 position players in the wild-card round. One pitcher definitely on the roster is Gerrit Cole, who will take the mound for New York in Game 1 for his first postseason start since Game 5 of the 2024 World Series.
Cole, 36, will take the mound on nine days' rest. His 22nd and final regular-season start after returning from Tommy John surgery was at Yankee Stadium, also against the Rays. The right-hander threw a season-high 105 pitches over 5⅓ innings, allowing two runs on three hits with eight strikeouts and three walks.
"It's incredibly special," Cole said. "And considering coming back from surgery, I mean, there's not much more I could ask for."
Boone said the club considered choosing left-hander Carlos Rodón, who was on the wild-card series roster as a reliever but didn't pitch, to start Game 1. Instead, Boone said Rodón will "probably" start Game 3 or 4, though he did not shut down the possibility of Rodón coming out of the bullpen in one of the first two games against a team that ranked 26th in the majors in wRC+ against lefties.
Cam Schlittler, coming off a dominant performance in Game 1 against Boston, is expected to start Game 2 on Monday. Rodón and fellow left-hander Max Fried, in some order, would take the ball the next two games, with Game 4 only as necessary in the best-of-five series.
"We've got four starters," Boone said. "You're going to see them. How we line them up is a different conversation."