PHOENIX (AP) — Three-time AL MVP Aaron Judge is headed back on the injured list — this time with a right calf strain — and New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone isn't sure whether the slugger will be able to return for the postseason.
New York said it will make the roster move on Saturday. The placement could be backdated to Thursday, meaning it is possible Judge could return for New York’s regular-season finale on Sept. 27.
Boone didn't offer any guarantees that would happen.
“I don’t know,” Boone said. “I don’t have a timeline on him. He’s on the IL now. I’m not going to predict anything. He’s getting treated and we’ll see what transpires.”
Judge was removed for a pinch hitter in the sixth inning Wednesday during a game against the Minnesota Twins because of the discomfort in his leg. At the time, he said it was a precautionary move.
Judge was 4 for 23 with 13 strikeouts and one extra-base hit in seven games since returning last week from a broken rib, which kept him out of the lineup for more than three months.
Three-time All-Star Cody Bellinger said he was frustrated for Judge because he knows how hard the 34-year-old has worked to get back into the lineup.
“It hurts. We all know he's the best hitter in the game,” Bellinger said. “But for us in here, the mindset is that we're going to have to find a way. I think the talent in this locker room speaks for itself, and I'm fully confident that we have enough talent in here to go out and beat anybody.”
Judge is hitting .241 with 18 homers and 41 RBIs over 66 games this season. The Yankees have already clinched a playoff spot but entered Friday five games behind the first-place Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East.
Boone echoed Bellinger's sentiment that the Yankees have enough talent to weather another Judge injury. Ben Rice leads New York with 38 homers while Bellinger is hitting .276 with a team-high 25 doubles, 16 homers and 71 RBIs.
“We've got a lot of really good offensive players,” Boone said. “A lot of good players, guys who are playing really well now. The reality is we've had to play a lot of this year without him. There's no replacing a player like Aaron Judge, but we have high expectations that don't change.”
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New York Yankees' Aaron Judge reacts after striking out during the third inning of a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
New York Yankees' Aaron Judge walks back to the dugout after the bottom of the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Bolivian lawmakers approved a $1.9 billion loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund on Friday, delivering the conservative government a key victory in its efforts to ease the country's deep economic crisis as unions threatened renewed protests.
The Senate ratified the IMF agreement a day after the lower house approved it, clearing the final legislative hurdle for the three-year financing program aimed at replenishing dwindling foreign reserves and stabilizing the ailing economy marked by high inflation and weak growth. The IMF first announced the staff-level agreement in July after months of negotiations with Paz's market-friendly government, which took power last year after nearly two decades of socialist rule. The program still requires approval from the IMF’s executive board before funds can be disbursed.
President Rodrigo Paz, part of a wave of new Latin American leaders allied with the Trump administration, welcomed the vote as a “historic step” and “resounding signal of political maturity, unity and economic certainty.”
Economy Minister Christian Morales told senators that the deal would give other lenders, including the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, greater confidence in the government and help it secure about $5 billion in additional financing.
But the conditions attached to the agreement, including the elimination of fuel subsidies, threaten to reignite unrest in Bolivia, where weeks of road blockades in June and July paralyzed much of the South American nation as demonstrators demanded Paz’s resignation. Congress on Thursday extended for another 90 days a state of emergency that Paz had declared to clear roads during the protests. It allows for military intervention and the suspension of some civil liberties.
The Bolivian Workers’ Central, the country’s main labor federation, and other unions have voiced fierce opposition to the IMF loan, warning that the government spending cuts required under the deal would drive up living costs and deepen hardship for struggling families. In recent months, Paz has eased Bolivia's long-generous fuel subsidies and announced plans to eliminate the benefits entirely by January.
Although Paz’s Christian Democratic Party lacks a majority in Congress, the centrist and right-wing lawmakers that dominate both chambers rallied behind the deal. The Movement Toward Socialism, the party that dominated Bolivian politics after the former coca growers’ union leader Evo Morales won the presidency in 2005, now holds just two of the 130 seats in the lower house and none in the 36-member Senate.
Declining natural gas exports have deprived Bolivia of dollars needed to import gasoline and diesel, contributing to chronic fuel shortages since 2023 that have persisted under Paz. Selling that imported fuel at subsidized prices has further strained public finances. Paz vowed to redirect subsidy spending toward oil and gas exploration and production.
“We are finalizing crucial agreements for Bolivia,” Paz said Friday, warning that difficult decisions lay ahead as the Iran war pushes up global fuel costs. “International prices are forcing us to make complex choices.”
Police escort teachers during an anti-government protest in La Paz, Bolivia, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Teachers shout slogans during an anti-government protest in La Paz, Bolivia, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
A teacher holds an empty pot during an anti-government protest in La Paz, Bolivia, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
