For a while yesterday, "Aaron Judge" was trending on Twitter. It was not pleasant.

When "Aaron Judge" started trending on Twitter yesterday - along with Suez Canal, Derek Chauvin and #Satan's shoes - the Yankiverse collectively shuddered.

Folks feared the worst. How could you not? A tweaked gonad, a lateral strain, the Brazilian variant... a culling by Thanos, a trade to the Dodgers, an appearance on The Masked Singer. (Dear God, shoot me.) Accompanying news links assured us that Judge was fine, that he'd been pulled from the final Grapefruit game this spring due to the sniffles - nothing here, nothing to see, move along, everybody - and Judge would not miss - oh, let's say - another half-season. 

Quickly, the Death Star nixed, quashed and pooh-poohed rumors of ill health: Judge was simply taking a day off. And - hey - maybe that's true. 

Maybe it's nothing. Maybe he was bingeing The Flight Attendant and couldn't take a break. Maybe he just needed a nice afternoon nap!

Unfortunately, the Yankees have a glorious history of lying about injuries. The front office feels no responsibility to tell fans about tweaks or tears. Information is power, and if the Yankees need to obtain a catcher, they'd rather not be compromised in their search. Thus, they'll tell us anything. It just doesn't matter what we know.

So - with the understanding that Brian Cashman was probably telling the truth - here is what we know: 

Last week, Judge hit his first homer of the spring. Since then, he's sat out. This scenario mirrors that of Luke Voit, who turned out to have a torn meniscus and will miss a month. But that was Voit. This is Judge. The Yankees claim he's resting. We will only know differently if they announce something differently.

I don't mean to prosecute the Yankees for doing what most professional franchises do. But here's the deal: 

All year, this will be our cruel reality.

The Yankees have several key players whose names are synonymous with injuries. At any time, one can strain something and miss the next six months. 

That will never change. 

Aaron Judge has a reputation across MLB: Great talent, cannot stay healthy. 

Same with Giancarlo Stanton: Great hitter, cannot stay healthy.

Corey Kluber: Great pitcher, cannot stay healthy. 

Aaron Hicks: Great potential, cannot stay healthy. 

Voit? Urshela? Frazier? Britton? The wild card is their health. It will be that way... all year. 

And the next time "Aaron Judge" trends on Twitter, the Yankiverse will once again shudder. Get used to it, folks. Because at some point, the bell will toll, and it won't be for the sniffles.