MLB analyst explains why Yankees' failure to protect Aaron Judge will be their downfall 

With the trade deadline fast approaching, the New York Yankees will need to address the elephant in the room: Who will help Aaron Judge take the franchise to the World Series? It starts with trading for a superstar bat, who can protect the Yankees' captain in the lineup.

At the moment, while the Yankees do have Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt, Giancarlo Stanton and Jasson Dominguez as a few interesting names, none of them have instilled fear in the opposing lineup to forcibly throw at Judge. Due to this, most of the time in crunch situations, the opposing teams feel safe by walking Judge and stranding him up on the basepath.

WFAN’s Brandon Tierney highlighted a stunning stat: Judge has already been intentionally walked 20 times in 2025, matching his entire total from the 2024 season. Tierney feels that if it continues to happen, it could derail the Yankees' championship hopes.

"The Yankees' biggest issue right now — until they make a trade, and they need to make a trade at some point — is they’ve got to figure out how to protect Aaron Judge," Tierney said. "I mean, this is now happening at a very different pace than in the past. Aaron Judge has been intentionally walked 20 times this year. Last year? 20 the entire season.

"You simply can’t have a situation where once or twice a game, with a runner on first, the opposing manager just casually intentionally walks Judge," he added.

Tierney further delved into the issue, saying that the Yankees don't have a true leadoff hitter.

"To me, there’s only one solution," Tierney added. "You can throw out the names — Stanton, Jazz (who’s been on a great roll)… I’m not looking to mess with Jazz, and it’s definitely not Stanton at this point. I think the only way the Yankees can work around this is put Judge in the 2-spot and hope that Bellinger is in the early stages of heating up.

"Don’t know that we’ll ever see MVP Bellinger again — I don’t think that’s the player they acquired. But looking at the roster, who’s equipped to have Aaron Judge’s back?" he added.

Brandon Tierney drops Jalen Brunson comparison to highlight protection needed for Aaron Judge

It gets as simple as that for Aaron Judge to lead the Yankees to win; he needs to see enough pitches to do damage. The Yankees have not done well when opposing teams have intentionally walked the two-time MVP.

As such, when it comes to October and the postseason, opposing teams won't mind walking the Yankees captain, knowing there's no way to make them pay.

To better explain the situation, he took the example of the New York Knicks' leading scorer, Jalen Brunson.

"Imagine the Knicks trying to go on a championship run, and Jalen Brunson gets triple-teamed so much that he can only take nine shots a night. Untenable, right?" Tierney said.

"Some things you’ve got to work around. And the Yankees must work around the increasing trend of opposing managers intentionally avoiding pitching to the best player in baseball," he added.

(Timestamp: 2:58 onwards)

As the Yankees chase their first World Series title since 2009, Tierney’s warning rings loud. The Yankees front office needs to come up with a move this trade deadline or else land in trouble if Judge gets injured while taking the pitches on him at some point.