“I don’t think we’re going to see him [Aaron Judge] throwing like he normally does at any point this year, but that’s OK,” Yankees’ manager Aaron Boone sparked controversy Tuesday when he talked about Judge’s return to the outfield. However, he was fought back by Aaron Judge, who said, “He hasn’t seen me throw the past two weeks. I’m pretty confident I’ll get back to that.” Although Boone tried to calm the situation, saying, “Maybe that’s a little [overstated].” Now, such skipper-captain feuds in the Yankees are unheard of.

Since coming off the 10-day IL on Aug. 5, Judge has been penciled in as the designated hitter for 12 straight games. And that’s pushed Giancarlo Stanton into more of a part-time role in right field. Judge says he’s been careful with his recovery, and he’s been throwing up to 150 feet and feels a lot better, though there’s still some soreness. Still, he sounds pretty confident about getting back into the outfield soon, which doesn’t exactly line up with what Aaron Boone has been saying.

It offered enough fodder for the fans and analysts alike to speculate if there’s any wrong in the Yankees clubhouse. And if that’s the reason behind the Yankees’ downfall this year. WFAN hosts Tommy Lugauer and Tiki Barber pinned their blame on Aaron Judge.

“Well, King Judge, outside of yesterday when he got mad at the manager, have you ever seen him get mad at anybody? That’s why Aaron Boon says that type of stuff, cuz when he actually does give an opinion, the captain of the team gets mad at him.” Lugauer got mad at Aaron Judge in a recent episode of WFAN.

Aaron Judge is typically a calm character on and off the field, and in the most tense situations, he stays composed. On the other hand, Boone is known for not ridiculing his players publicly. “Those managers don’t exist anymore. Name one who publicly holds players accountable,” MLB insider Ken Rosenthal once said about Boone’s lack of accountability towards the Yankees clubhouse.

Because Judge’s fall is Yankees’ fall.

Aaron Judge’s slump is directly proportional to the Yankees’ downhill curve

Well, even the best hitters go through slumps. Shohei Ohtani, for example, had a rough 6-for-44 stretch (.136) last summer. But the Dodgers hardly felt it because the rest of the lineup picked up. The Yankees, on the other hand, don’t have that luxury right now. When Aaron Judge struggles, the whole team seems to go down with him.

For the unversed, in mid-june, Judge was just 3-for-24 with 15 SOs in his last seven games. He’s struck out three times in four of those seven games. And it was not just him.

The Yankees as a team batted a miserable .164/.227/.215 over their last six games at the time. And to make matters worse, there was no Yankee besides Judge who homered in 71 innings. Put simply, there isn’t another bat in the Bronx stepping up when Judge isn’t carrying the load.

Well, in that same stretch, the only saving grace for the Yankees was their pitching staff. During that six-game, their pitchers posted an incredible 1.48 ERA. Hence, in other words, the arms did their part, but the Yankees’ bats desperately needed to wake up. Well, as of now, things are surely getting difficult in the Wild Card race, too.