New Delhi, July 30 -- NEW YORK - The trade deadline closes Sunday at 6 p.m., and the New York Yankees still cannot tell you when their best player will be back.

Aaron Judge has not been cleared for baseball activities. That is where the Yankees' deadline begins and, for the moment, where it cannot move past. A rib injury has kept the franchise right fielder (.248 batting average, 17 home runs, 38 runs batted in across 75 games) off the field and out of the daily routine a position player must complete before a return timeline can take shape. The Yankees said this week he will definitely come back. They have not said when, because the team has not yet determined when his next medical examination will occur.

The August 3 trade deadline is...