Can the New York Yankees Hold On To MLBbro Aaron Judge?
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
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) October 24, 2022
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.
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