As MLB’s winter meeting heat up and $300M deals have already been secured, all eyes turn to MLBbro Aaron Judge and what appears to be a two-team race for his services between the New York Yankees (who just inked GM Brian Cashman to a new four-year deal) and the San Francisco Giants who are seeking the franchise’s first superstar of this caliber since Barry Bonds.
Judge Hit AL Record 62 Bro Bombs, Remains A Free Agent Through First Days Of San Diego Winter Meetings
Cashman said Monday that the team has made multiple offers to the MLBbro who has spent his entire career for the Yankees. Judge is reaching free agency at the optimal time. Now that Trea Turner was rewarded with an 11-year $300M deal, it’s not a question if the Judge will exceed that contract threshold. As Jeff Passan reported on ESPN, “it’s just a matter of by how much.”
At the All-Star break, the Yankees appeared to still be in the driver’s seat despite Judge’s fast start, but he certainly wouldn’t commit to anything past this season. A season in which he overdelivered and dismissed any talk of decline, being injury prone
Now that the offseason is in full swing, Judge has no shortage of suitors, but at this point it’s all about the check book. He hit 10 more homeruns than any other player in baseball, which is the biggest gap in 90 years. It’s also about how genuinely the Yankees show they truly want to retain him.
San Francisco Giants Putting Full Cout Press On Judge
San Francisco is putting a full court press on Judge. Judge is the forbidden fruit that the Giants want to taste, and the Yankees already have tasted it and reaped the financial benefits of Judge’s historic accomplishments and popularity. There’s clearly a number that they aren’t willing to surpass.
Meanwhile, NBA star Stephen Curry has been joined by members of the 49ers NFL roster as they look to bring Judge to San Francisco. Judge has recently visited the Giants, with the organization said to be ‘elated’ with their meeting.
49ers stars Drake Jackson, Willie Snead IV, Talanoa Hufanga and Marcelino McCrary Ball have sent messages to Judge from the locker-room asking him to make the move. “Aaron Judge, you need to come home bro,” said Jackson.
“It’s beautiful out here, wherever you are right now, I bet it’s not like this,” he added. “If you sign with the Giants, those are three potential championship winning teams right here in San Francisco,” Snead IV teased Judge.
Compare that to the Yankees corporate bore of a courting and reports surfacing that Judge feels the Yankees “turned the fans against him” at one point and there’s a real risk that he won’t be in pinstripes ever again.
As a reminder of how totally, dominant Judge was this season and how he ranked among his peers, “All Rise” became the first player to lead MLB in home runs, RBI, runs and extra base hits since the iconic Mickey Mantle in 1956.
Giants’ manager Gabe Kapler says, “this is the most exciting time that I can remember. It feels like there’s a lot at stake for the game. We want to be an exciting brand at the winter meetings. Not just during the season.”
Gabe Kapler on what a potential big name FA signing whether that be Aaron Judge or any other big name means to the #Giants and the game of baseball….
Kapler: “This is the most exciting time I can remember. This feeling like there is a lot of stake for the game.” pic.twitter.com/r70QtXWrqE
AJ, who grew up in California, is really milking this situation, as he should, and the mystery surrounding his feelings heightens the theater for major league baseball. After all, this is the sport’s biggest story of the offseason, and they have to get every marketing and advertising advantage out of it. Football is starting to kick into high gear as teams begin to jostle for playoff positioning and the NBA is in full swing and about to dominate the headlines post-January.
So, it’s all about Aaron Judge and whether or not he will leave the Yankees. If you try to read between the lines, the Yankees say they have made two offers.
Per Jon Heyman of the New York Post and MLB Network, the Giants’ current offer to the reigning American League MVP is believed to be in the range of $360 million. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported last week the Yankees have an offer on the table worth around $300 million over eight years, but they could increase it depending on how far the Giants are willing to push the market.
If he does indeed want to finish his career in pinstripes, then you’d have to assume that the Yankees offers aren’t as attractive as San Francisco’s offer. How many times will Judge allow the Yankees to come with an offer that he feels is low balling his worth? Even if he doesn’t prefer the Giants, the Yankees don’t seem to be making it hard for him to decide to leave.
Next up for New York, after the team’s complete offensive collapse against the Houston Astros in the postseason, are questions bigger than what happened to the bats. And one of those is– Can the New York Yankees hold on to MLBbro Aaron Judge?
WFAN brought in baseball pundit Steve Somers to give his opinion about what the Yankees should do with MLBbros Judge and Aaron Hicks if the franchise wants to make it out of the American League playoffs and get back to the World Series for the first time since 2009.
Steve Somers on Aaron Hicks:
“One thing you have to do is get rid of [Aaron] Hicks and get rid of [Josh] Donaldson, Steve said. “Try to eat some of that money and get rid of him. He’s a strikeout waiting to happen.”
Steve Somers on Aaron Judge:
“I don’t see Judge going anywhere,” Steve said. “Not San Francisco, not Boston, and he’s not going to the Mets. He’s the face of the Yankees and he’s a popular guy. He’s the leader of the team, arguably gonna be the next captain of the team. He’s gonna be MVP. He ought to go into Hal Steinbrenner’s office and say, ‘Hey partner.”
Since Aaron Judge is supposed to be the “no-brainer” of this situation, let’s discuss it. Somers’ take on Judge sure seems rock solid on the surface, but is it?
Hal Steinbrenner sure didn’t think of Judge as a partner when the negotiations only went as far as a $19 million per year in the offseason. The Yankees decided to play chicken with Judge, and they lost…big time!
The Yankees are notorious of late, for balking against handing out long-term deals and are trying to move away from their reputation of overpaying players. They used injuries and age to lower the market price on Judge despite a highly productive 2021.
In 2021, Aaron finished fourth in MVP voting with 39 home runs, 98 RBI, 89 runs scored and won the Silver Slugger award by carrying the team into the playoffs (Barely!) in 148 games. In 2022, despite ongoing distractions around his contract situation, he still put on one of the greatest offensive seasons in Yankees and MLB history, breaking Roger Maris’ American League record for home runs with 62.
Not only that, his all-around play at the plate and the field saved a 15.5 game collapse when the division title should have been in the bag.
Aaron Judge made a request to get a deal done before Opening Day with the understanding that he wanted to be a Yankee for a long time. Maybe if GM Brian Cashman had tacked on $40-$50 million earlier this season or in Spring Training, this conversation never makes the news cycle. But now the hottest Yankee since Derek Jeter is worth $100 million or more than the previous offer for him to even pay attention.
The last offer given to Judge was seven years at $213.5 million before the arbitration phase. Now is not the time for the Yankees to get cheap, even though the payroll is off the charts. The team is already locked in to close to $200 million in guaranteed money (Hence the Somers statements on Hicks!) with an eye on certain luxury tax levels.
Where Does Judge Go?
The San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers (a team with no issues with spending money!), Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals are all potential teams that can supply the amount of money that Aaron Judge wants. The bidding war alone could burn up any money needed to build around him.
Now there has to be decisions made on both sides. It’s no longer Judge believing that his salary should be at the top of the MLB money list. Now, his teammates do too.
Anthony Rizzo thinks Aaron Judge should be the highest-paid player in baseball:
"I think that he bet on himself on the biggest stage, in the biggest market, and did it with ease… He's the new gold standard, in my opinion." pic.twitter.com/8gRxdNPUop
But if that happens, our MLBbro has to understand that the bank is closed for help in the journey for a championship run. The financial constraints that signing Judge creates for any team that signs him is also a concern.
Even though the Yankees are a multi-billion-dollar franchise, this is still a business. The Yankees have to decide on one of the biggest investments in the history of baseball and Aaron Judge has to figure out how to make good on a possible $300 million bag if it comes.
Home Run King Barry Bond wants Bay-area native Aaron Judge in a San Francisco Giants jersey come 2023. The sweepstakes for this year’s soon to be American League MVP will be one of the biggest the Majors has ever seen.
To most of a generation, including Aaron Judge himself, Barry Bonds was the greatest player they ever saw. The seven-time MVP holds the record for most home runs in a career with 762 and his 73 in 2001 are the most ever in a single season. Judge’s current chase for the American League record has caught the eyes of the entire sports world, including Bonds himself who last week gave Judge his blessing to not only take his crown, but follow in his footsteps as the right fielder for the San Francisco Giants.
“The way Judge swings he might as well hit one a day and get past me,” said Bonds to reporters.
“I don’t care, why not? I hope he signs here. Can it happen? I do not know, but we would love to have him.”
The Giants, just like each of the other 29 Major League teams will get the opportunity to shoot their shots in hopes to get Judge in their lineup, but his favorite player from his childhood team may give them the upper hand in the sweepstakes.
Judge was born in Linden, California and grew up as a Giants fan. He played baseball at Fresno State University where he was named All-Conference in each of his three seasons there before he was drafted by New York. This past off-season, Aaron Judge’s contract negotiations with the Yankees were the talk of baseball. He made it clear to both the media and front office that he would not be negotiating a deal during the season.
Instead, he has let his play do the talking and it has spoken volumes in every single facet of the game whether it be taking over in center field, collecting a career high number of steals and distinguishing himself as one of the greatest Yankees in Major League history. Regardless of postseason outcome, Judge is coming to negotiating tables this off-season with things stacked heavily in his favor. He will have his first career MVP under his belt to go along with having hit the second most homers in the 2000’s era and possibly a triple crown.
Nobody knows how much it will take to lure Judge away from New York. He is the king of the city and wears the superstar tag better than any athlete in the city since Derek Jeter retired. He’s not nearly as popular or well known as Jeter was outside of baseball circles, but if he keeps this up and remains in pinstripes, then sky is the limit. If he doesn’t stay with the Yankees that automatically lowers his popularity and celebrity as a baseball player. But it will be up to Judge.
What we do know is that the greatest home run hitter of all time wants to see today’s supreme slugger send balls into McCovey Cove as Bonds once did. Will the Yankees’ disrespect some months ago come back to haunt them? Maybe, but only time will tell as to where we see Judge in 2023.
Aaron Judge is a gift and a curse for the Yankees. He’s a gift because rarely do we see Paul Bunyan wielding a Lousiville Slugger. He’s a curse in some ways because we’ve only seen him at his best for one season. . Judge’s injury history is well noted and every time he steps on the field Yankees fans hope and pray that he doesn’t return to the IL.
A brittle body doesn’t change the fact that he’s a five-tool beast when that 6-foot-8 frame is functioning on all cylinders
With his free agency pending, some have questioned whether or not the Yankee should invest the $275M or so it will take to keep Judge in Pinstripes. On the other hand, days like Wednesday — when he bashes two mammoth shots in his first two at-bats against the team that feels it can hang with the Bronx Bombers in the AL East — make the decision pretty simple.
The second homer had an exit velocity of 111.9 MPH, way above the league average of 103.6
Have a day Aaron Judge! The Yankee slugger is one of the best power hitters in the game and already has 2 home runs in his first two at bats today ? #MLBbros#MLBbro#SQUADUPhttps://t.co/lPQlcJo1AS
Even with Judge’s heroics, the Yankees lost the game 5-4. They won’t win it all without him, so they have to manage him delicately.
“I know in Aaron’s case, and pretty much all of our guys, they want to go out there all the time and they want to be there for their teammates,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said in a SI article. “So anytime I’m holding a guy out of the lineup, or they’re not able to go out there, I think that’s probably a little frustrating for everybody. But that’s also part of sport and part of what we have to manage on a daily basis.”
Since Judge smashed a rookie record of 52 homers in 2017, he hasn’t played more than 112 games in a season. The big knock on Judge entering 2021 was the fact that since the beginning of 2018, the lethal slugger had appeared in only 242 of a possible 384 games (63 percent)
He’s already missed time this season with soreness. Honestly, though, that’s the risk you take with a player of Judge’s game-changing potential. In that limited time, he’s also produced 11 multi-homer games.
He’s set to become a free agent following the 2022 season. That means Judge will be entering his age-31 season after that winter. He’s no Spring chicken, but at the same time, the Yankees certainly don’t want to be facing a healthy Judge playing for the competition in a playoff situation.
There will be a line of suitors around the corner if this guy hits the free agent market. He might not command the money that younger superstar like Tatis is getting, but when Judge is healthy, he’s every bit as good. You have to believe that he’s going to catch a hot streak of three or four years where everything just falls into place again. The Yankees don’t want to bail out too early.
Wednesday’s performance was another example of why you don’t relinquish talent like that. Even if you’re only going to have it for 100 games a season.
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