Hour 2 - Judgement Day

Aaron Judge is back from the 60-day injured list after missing three months with a broken rib, and he refused to go on a minor league rehab assignment. Ben Maller is selling the comeback hype. The Yankees captain is expected to return Tuesday night against the Colorado Rockies, but Maller argues that skipping a rehab stint after 84 games missed is a mistake that reeks of superstar privilege — and he expects the results to look like a frozen Hungry Man dinner that hasn't been properly defrosted.

The Judge Problem: Skipping the Rehab

The Yankees front office wanted Aaron Judge to take a minor league rehab assignment before returning. Judge said no, and he won. Maller calls this "big league hubris" — a utility player coming off that kind of absence would spend a week in Triple A, but superstars get TSA pre-check straight into the lineup. The Yankees went six games over .500 without Judge, which Maller says either cheapens Judge's value or just reflects how bad the American League is this year. Either way, the expectation that Judge will immediately look like his MVP self is misplaced. Maller points out that even when healthy, Judge is a .236 career postseason hitter, and his production numbers dip across the board in October. "You aren't getting MVP Judge fresh out of the box," Maller says. "You're getting a three-month-old Hungry Man home-style meatloaf dinner that's been in