Retired Gold Glove CF sends Yankees grim Aaron Judge warning…

Add retired Gold Glove center fielder Lorenzo Cain to the growing list of people warning the New York Yankees that they shouldn’t make club captain Aaron Judge a full-time center fielder after the Bronx Bombers acquired All-Star Juan Soto from the San Diego Padres.

Cain added that the Yankees should have Alex Verdugo or Trent Grisham serve as their Opening Day center fielder over Judge. New York landed Verdugo via a trade with the Boston Red Sox before Grisham was included as part of the Soto deal.

Regarding Judge, he inked a $360 million, nine-year contract in December of last year, but during the 2023 season, he had to deal with a torn ligament in his big right toe and a right hip strain. Due to his extensive history of injuries, both current Yankees play-by-play announcer Michael Kay and former hitting coach Sean Casey expressed concerns about the 6-foot-7, 282-pound Judge playing center field for the duration of the upcoming season.
Meanwhile, Cain mentioned how former teammate Whit Merrifield “started playing a lot of center” after Cain left the Kansas City Royals following the 2017 season.

“I noticed that you were coming to the dugout and complaining about being tired and having pain in your feet about a month into the season,” Merrifield texted me. I see now. Cain remembered. “Center field is very taxing on the body” for any player, let alone one the size of Judge, according to Cain’s observation.

In an appearance on “The Michael Kay Show” on Thursday, Kay proposed that Brian Cashman, the general manager of the Yankees and senior vice president, trade Verdugo in order to move Grisham to center field. It’s evident that concerns regarding Judge policing center field won’t go away before the new year. Cashman may or may not be planning.