VOTE: Prospect excitement and an Aaron Judge shutdown

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across Major League Baseball. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in New York Yankees fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

SB Nation Reacts is back, and the questions strike a bit of a different tone than recent considerations. The Yankees’ free fall, and especially the eight-game losing streak, prompts us to look ahead where the grass is greener. With meaningless September baseball in the Bronx for the first time since 2016, there’s ample time to plan for 2024, and the two most imminent questions involve Aaron Judge and prospect call-ups.

As far as we know, Judge’s toe injury is purely a matter of pain tolerance. The team assured fans that it couldn’t be further injured by playing on it and that he won’t need offseason surgery. But at this point, there’s no real purpose to allowing the big man to gut it out. Fans understandably may want to see Judge take a seat the rest of the season in the first year of his nine-year contract. The toe hasn’t prevented him from performing like the Judge we know and love since his return — in a lineup of duds, he’s plugging away as usual, only on nine toes. The risk of trotting him out there, at this point, may greatly outweigh the reward in a mediocre season.

Oswald Peraza and Everson Pereira were called up ahead of Tuesday’s game. Austin Wells could be right behind them if Ben Rortvedt continues to look lost (or even just in September when rosters expand to 28). For Pereira, it’ll be his first MLB action, and for Peraza, his first since late July. Expectations are relatively high for both prospects, almost as high as for Anthony Volpe, though Peraza hasn’t impressed in his sporadic 121 big league at-bats. Some regular playing time could do wonders for his confidence.

Should the Yankees call curtains on Judge’s 2023 season? Which of the rookies are you most excited about? Let us know below.