When Aaron Judge suffered a chip fracture

in his right wrist July 26 Brandon Phillips Jersey , the initial expectation was that he would only be away from the New York Yankees for a couple of weeks.Well, it's been over a month and the slugging right fielder still isn't back. As much as anything, this explains why Andrew McCutchen is on his way to New York.Not long after the Yankees blew a ninth-inning lead en route to a crushing 8-7 loss to the Detroit Tigers Thursday night, reports surfaced that the San Francisco Giants had agreed to trade McCutchen to the Yankees. According to Joel Sherman of theNew York Post, two prospects are going to San Francisco:Joel Sherman Joelsherman1I hear if the trade is completed #yankees will be sending two prospects to the #sfgiants for McCutchen and that Abital Avelino is one of them.McCutchen, the 2013 National League MVP, isgoing from a sub-.500 Giants team to an 84-50 Yankees club that's positioned for a wild-card berth. Because he was acquired ahead of the August 31 waiver trade deadline, he's eligible to stay with New York for the duration of its October ride.For the Yankees, it's a solid baseball trade.Abiatal Avelino only checks in as their No. 23 prospect atMLB.com.And perRandy Millerof NJ.com, the $2.45 million left on McCutchen's contract shouldn't put the Yankees over the luxury-tax threshold.Now that the basics are out of the way, it's on to the heart of the matter: This deal shouldspare the Yankees from a nightmare of their own making.Adam Hunger/Getty ImagesOriginally, it wasbelieved that Judge would need only three weeks of rest before he was able to swing a bat again. More than three weeks later, however Luis Valbuena Jersey , the 2017 American League Rookie of the Year still isn't close to swinging a bat again.It doesn't need to be speculated that the Yankees erred in thinking Judge could make such a swift recovery. General manager Brian Cashman admitted as much toShermanon August 20:"[Yankees team doctor Chris] Ahmad was optimistic. He recognizes these things take four to six weeks, but for some reason his experience with Judge, [Ahmad] went the most optimistic three weeks. That was a mistake, one he has self-admitted to. In fairness to Aaron, four to six weeks is typical. Usually, we don't over-promise. In this case, we missed on the timeline. It is unfair to the player. The optimism and the timeline were inaccurate."If thereissomething to speculate about, it's whether the Yankees ran with an aggressive timeline for Judge's recovery for the sake of convenience.At the time he was hurt, they had already lost fellow slugger Gary Sanchez to astrained groinand young outfielder Clint Frazier to aconcussion. According to Jon Heyman of Fancred, they adjusted their deadline priorities accordingly:Jon Heyman JonHeymanYankees looking for an extra hitter/OF with judge (and Sanchez and Frazier) out. Probably prefer a righty hitter. But the grandy man cgrand3 could be a potential fit.Under these circumstances, a conservative recovery timeline for Judge might have signaled a greater sense of desperation to potential trade partners, resulting in boosted price tags.Had the Yankees' maneuvering worked, it would have been worth a tip of the ol' cap. Instead http://www.angelsfanproshop.com/authentic-chris-young-jersey , nothing happened in the final days of July or through the first 30 days of August. And the Yankees paid for it.Sure, they have a winning record (19-14) in the time Judge has been out. But theiroffense has gone from a .789 OPSwith himto a .762 OPSwithout him, and the team's deficit to the Boston Red Sox in the AL East race has grown from 4.5 games to 8.5 games.By not rushing to bring in help from outside the organization, the Yankees took asense of urgency that should have been on their shoulders and transferred it onto Judge's.Thus, it's no wonder that he recently spoke about returning before he was 100 percent healthy."That's what I've heard, that I can play with it," the 26-year-oldtold reportersTuesday. "I don't need surgery, I don't need anything like that. You can play with it before it fully heals. It's just getting that pain down to zero."Maybe an early return would have worked. This is Aaron Judge, after all.He's a .284/.412/.595 hitter with 78 home runs over the last two seasons. Even a sub-100 percent version of him might have still proved to be elite.However, it's just as likely that an early return would have resulted in calamity.There would have been the risk of his wrist catching another wayward fastballlike the onethat hit him in July. Other forces (an awkward check swing, a hard headfirst slide, a diving catch attempt) could also have put his wrist in jeopardy.Even if Judge avoided all of these, he might not have been up to being a savior anyway. He could have been held back by out-of-whack timing. Or Cam Bedrosian Jersey , the 6'7", 282-pounder'swounded wrist could have rendered him unable to conjure his trademark power.Now that McCutchen is coming to the rescue, there's no need for Judge to rush.McCutchen isn't Judge's equal at this stage of his career, but he can still hit. He has a .772 OPS and 15 homers on the season, and a solid .794 OPS and six homers since the All-Star break.If nothing else, McCutchen is a better option in right field than what the Yankees had been going with in place of Judge.While Giancarlo Stanton and Neil Walker have done their part to carry the load, Shane Robinson has done plenty to chip away at it. The Yankeesrank 28thin right field offense since July 28.Having McCutchen in right field should take care of that problem in the short term. Because of that, Judge can take more time to let his wrist heal. With enough luck, it will be good to go in time for the postseason. At that point, McCutchen would go from a solid everyday player to an enviable platoon option.Of course, it's hard not to wonder where the Yankees would be right now if they'd traded for McCutchen sooner. They'd almost certainly be closer to the Red Sox in the AL East race. If so, their September would be less about saving face and more about seizing an opportunity.Still, a trade made late is better than a trade not made at all. Rather than too little http://www.angelsfanproshop.com/authentic-blake-wood-jersey , too late, McCutchen to the Yankees is just enough, just in time.Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference and Baseball Savant. CLEVELAND (AP) — Corey Kluber and the Cleveland Indians are rolling along quite nicely. And help is on the way.Kluber pitched seven sparkling innings, Edwin Encarnacion homered and the Indians beat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-0 on Friday night.AL Central-leading Cleveland won for the fourth time in five games, and then finalized a trade for 2015 AL MVP Josh Donaldson. The Indians sent a player to be named to the Blue Jays for cash considerations and Donaldson, a slugging third baseman who has been limited to 36 games this season because of injuries.Kluber (17-7) allowed two singles, struck out eight and walked two in Cleveland’s AL-best 14th shutout this season. Cody Allen worked a perfect eighth and Brad Hand finished the two-hitter for his 31st save.It was an encouraging outing for Allen, who lost the closer job during a tough August.“Just because Cody ran into a hiccup there, we never lost confidence in him,” Kluber said. “He’s not one of the best closers that we’ve had in this organization for no reason. We all have the same goal here and that’s to win. I thought he looked real good tonight.”Pitching for the third straight day, Allen helped the Indians retire the last 17 batters. He was 0-2 with two blown saves and an 11.57 ERA in his previous six appearances.“This is a special group we’ve got and these guys are my bros,” Allen said. “I’m not surprised the way they’ve stayed behind me and picked me up. We’ve got very, very high character guys who care a great deal about each other.”Kluber Zack Greinke Jersey , making a bid for a second straight AL Cy Young Award, matched Yankees ace Luis Severino for the major league lead in wins. He also moved into first place in the AL with 186 2/3 innings.“I thought Klubes was really crisp and I thought Cody looked tremendous,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. “Cody should feel really good. He should because he’s worked hard. Now, we’ve got to keep him there.”Encarnacion snapped a scoreless tie with a solo drive to center off Tyler Glasnow (1-4) in the seventh. The Indians added two more in the ninth when Greg Allen scored on a wild pitch and Michael Brantley singled home Francisco Lindor.Glasnow struck out six in a career-high seven innings. He was working on a no-hitter before Melky Cabrera singled with two out in the fifth.“I was really impressed with the way Tyler threw the ball,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. “He was just awesome to watch and went toe to toe with arguably one of the best in the game. We couldn’t get anything done offensively, but Kluber’s numbers speak for themselves.”Joey Wendle hit a leadoff single in the first and Tommy Pham singled in the fourth for Tampa Bay’s only hits. The Rays are 9-2 since Aug. 19, matching their best 11-game run in four years.RIVALRY RENEWEDFrancona and Cash are close friends who enjoy kidding each other. Cash fired the opening volley by stealing Francona’s dugout chair before the game. Francona responded with a scoreboard graphic entitled “How bad is Kevin Cash at the plate?” that featured his statistics.TRAINER’S ROOMRays: C Michael Perez was placed on the disabled list with a strained left hamstring. … OF Mallex Smith (viral infection) begins a rehabilitation assignment Saturday with Single-A Charlotte. Smith fell ill and was hospitalized last week. Cash said the leadoff hitter could be activated when he is eligible on Monday.Indians: RHP Trevor Bauer (right fibula stress fracture) underwent a second bone scan and will learn the results Saturday. The All-Star was struck by a line drive on Aug. 11 and is expected to be out until mid-September.UP NEXTRays LHP Blake Snell (16-5, 2.05 ERA) takes on Indians RHP Shane Bieber (8-2, 4.52 ERA) in the second game of the series. Snell is tied for third in the majors in victories behind Severino and Kluber.