NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge's broken rib has not completely healed, and the New York Yankees captain still hasn't been cleared to resume baseball activities.
Judge hasn't played since May 31 because of the stress fracture in his right ribs. He had a scan during the All-Star break and called the result positive news.
“Part of it's healing. The other part of its still trying to bridge together,” the three-time AL MVP said before the Yankees started the second half Friday night against the two-time World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Judge and the Yankees were waiting for an evaluation of the scans from Dr. Gregory J. Pearl, chair of the department of vascular surgery at Baylor Hamilton Heart and Vascular Hospital in Texas. Judge will need another scan before he is cleared for baseball activities and given a time frame for a return.
“I’m going to wait for the doctors to kind of tell us what to do and what they see when they look at it,” Judge said. “We got a big team of guys looking at this just so we get the best answer and have the right plan.”
Judge is hitting .248 with 17 homers and 38 RBIs but had just one homer in his last 18 games. The 34-year-old outfielder has done lower-body work, treadmill and climbing steps but no baseball activities or heavy weightlifting. He's stopped the bicycle work he did earlier in the layoff.
“It’s feeling better. It was a couple weeks that were tough, couldn’t do a lot, but now we’re feeling 10 times better,” he said. “So that was my big complaint, well, if I’m feeling better, how about we start moving? But I think they just don’t want to start adding baseball activities and other stuff and all of a sudden we have a setback and it pushes everything back.”
When he is able to play, Judge doesn't want to go on a minor league injury rehabilitation assignment.
“I hate rehab games, so I got to to talk with them about all that, because why waste at-bats in a rehab game?” Judge said.
New York was 36-23 when he last played but was 18-19 since as the second half began Friday.
“I feel good about the fact that he will be back but it's just a matter of when,” manager Aaron Boone said.
Left-hander Max Fried, out since May 14 because of left elbow bone bruise, was to make his first rehab start on Friday for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre against Worcester and will have at least one more minor league outing.
Left-hander Carlos Rodón, who has not pitched since June 28 because of left elbow inflammation, threw 10 pitches off a mound Friday but has not progressed to a bullpen session.
Designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton, who hasn’t played since April 24 because of a strained right calf, started a running progression outdoors.
Clarke Schmidt, coming back from Tommy John surgery on July 11 last year, was set to throw an inning of batting practice Saturday.
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New York Yankees' Aaron Judge watches from the dugout during a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays Monday, July 6, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)
VENICE, Italy (AP) — Several hundred protesters marched Friday against the arrival in Venice of the billionaire American ambassador's luxury yacht, briefly clashing with riot police as they neared the vessel.
Activists described hospitality mogul Tilman Fertitta’s arrival as an unwelcome display of American wealth and influence at a time when many Italians see the Trump administration upending the post-World War II international order.
They marched carrying inflatable water toys and beach balls behind a sign reading: “Venezia non si USA,” a play on words meaning “Venice is not to be used,” with the USA acronym capitalized.
Protesters raised their arms to show they were peaceful as they reached a double line of riot police blocking access to the super yacht, but police pushed back with their shields when the demonstrators refused to stop. Inflatable toys flew through the air. After the clash, protesters yelled “Shame!” at the ambassador, the mayor and the police.
Fertitta arrived in Venice earlier Friday, mooring in St. Mark’s Basin as part of a coastal diplomacy tour marking the 250th anniversary of American independence. Police boats were stationed around his yacht, which dwarfed buildings along the banks of the lagoon, and a heavy police presence accompanied the demonstrators, who carried signs reading “Make America Read Again” and “Oligarch in saor,” a reference to a Venetian specialty with sardines.
The so-called Coastal Diplomacy 250 tour of 13 Italian coastal regions on a super yacht is intended to celebrate “our shared history, our economic partnership, and the cultural bonds that make the U.S.-Italy relationship so special,” Fertitta said in a social media post.
Fertitta declined a request for an interview to discuss the tour and the planned protest, but he issued a short statement supporting the right to protest.
“I like Italians, we Americans respect freedom of speech and the right to peaceful protest; Coastal Diplomacy celebrates our nation’s founding and these fundamental rights,” Fertitta said in the statement, adding that the tour has “been an amazing way for me to meet Italians from all walks of life and to celebrate 250 years of U.S. independence and decades of friendship with Italy.”
In Venice, many of the same groups that protested the wedding last year of Jeff Bezos to Lauren Sanchez mobilized against Fertitta’s arrival aboard the 117-meter (384-foot) luxury yacht, Boardwalk, which features two helipads, a pair of swimming pools and a fully equipped spa and gym.
On July 4, protest organizers unfurled a banner as long as Fertitta’s yacht to illustrate what the protesters called “the dimensions of his arrogance.”
“It’s arrogant to think he can do what he wants in a city that is ever more sold to the single culture of tourism,’’ organizer Stella Morion told The Associated Press. She said protesters are also opposed to President Donald Trump’s international politics, including U.S. strikes on Iran, which she said have prompted a spike in energy prices.
“It is the umpteenth slap in the face of a city and all of the people in Venice who struggle to reach the end of the month due to an increase in prices caused by Trump’s war,” she said.
Protesters were taken aback by the sight of the yacht, which at six stories was taller than neighboring buildings. “It's gross,” said activist Tommaso Cacciari.
Emanuele Lepore, another activist, said the presence of the towering yacht provoked in him “first and foremost rage" after a long fight to ban cruise ships from the Giudecca Canal and historic center.
“To see such a big ship be able to stay in the lagoon of Venice is a shame,” Lepore said. “The message is rather clear: For the new oligarchs to be able to travel around and normalize war and fascism, there must be local oligarchs.”
The billionaire owner of Fertitta Entertainment was sworn in as ambassador to Italy in 2025. He made his fortune in the hospitality industry, including restaurants, hotels and casinos. He also owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets. His official biography puts his net worth at $11.3 billion, and notes that Forbes ranks him among the 100 wealthiest Americans.
Details of who Fertitta will meet while in Venice have not been released, but he is expected to attend the famed Redentore festival on Saturday, which commemorates the end of the plague in 1576 culminating with celebratory fireworks over St. Mark’s Basin.
He has already stopped over in the Sicilian port town of Cefalu, where his family’s roots trace back to 1566, and met with the governor in Palermo. Other stops have included the Calabrian port of Le Castella and he sailed along the coast of Puglia and up the Adriatic coastline en route to Venice.
Political analyst Giovanni Orsina said that the image of an ambassador sailing the Italian coast in an act of diplomacy “is pretty novel.”
“Certainly an ambassador using his own resources and his own yacht to make this kind of traveling diplomacy as far as I know is pretty unusual. It can be perceived negatively, on the one hand, but it also can be taken as a sign of attention toward the country,″ said Orsina, who is head of the political science department at Rome’s Luiss University.
Fertitta’s tenure includes navigating a cooling in the once warm relationship between Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and Trump, who has made a series of social media attacks against her. Meloni, who was once seen as a close political ally in Europe with similar views on such issues as immigration, did not attend 250th celebrations at the U.S. Embassy.
Demonstrators gather to protest against U.S. Ambassador Tilman Fertitta's luxury yacht 'Boardwalk" presence in Venice, Friday, July 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Police officers face demonstrators gathered to protest against U.S. Ambassador Tilman Fertitta's luxury yacht 'Boardwalk" presence in Venice, Friday, July 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno) CORRECTS NAME OF YACHT TO BOARDWALK INSTEAD OF BOARDWALL"
Police officers confront demonstrators gathered to protest against U.S. Ambassador Tilman Fertitta's superyacht 'Boardwall' presence in Venice, Friday, July 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
U.S. Ambassador Tilman Fertitta's superyacht 'Boardwall' is docked as part of "Freedom 250 Coastal Diplomacy" tour, as protest by activists is expected this afternoon, in Venice, Friday, July 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
U.S. Ambassador to Italy Tilman Fertitta, center, with his wife Lauren Ware, second from left, is backdropped by the bell tower of St. Mark's Basilica upon arrival in Venice, Italy, Friday, July 17, 2026, aboard his super yacht, Boardwalk, as part of his "Freedom 250 Coastal Diplomacy" tour.(AP Photo/Luigi Costantini)
A poster of the protest against U.S. Ambassador Tilman Fertitta's superyacht 'Boardwall' presence, hangs on a wall in Venice, Friday, July 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
U.S. Ambassador Tilman Fertitta's superyacht 'Boardwall' is docked as part of "Freedom 250 Coastal Diplomacy" tour, as protest by activists is expected this afternoon, in Venice, Friday, July 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
A poster of the protest against U.S. Ambassador Tilman Fertitta's superyacht 'Boardwall' presence, hangs on a wall in Venice, Friday, July 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
U.S. Ambassador Tilman Fertitta's superyacht 'Boardwall' is docked as part of "Freedom 250 Coastal Diplomacy" tour, as protest by activists is expected this afternoon, in Venice, Friday, July 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
