Giants say they have not heard on Aaron Judge, My apologies for jumping the gun.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 6, 2022
Sources Confirmed: Judge to the Yankees, $360m, nine years. Total surrender by the Yankees. The bet in himself yields huge money
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) December 7, 2022
Aaron Judge flew into San Diego at the last minute to decide among three teams: the New York Yankees, the San Francisco Giants and the San Diego Padres. The Yankees bumped their offer to nine years and $360 million, and in the end, Judge decided he wanted to remain a Yankee.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 7, 2022
Hallelujah, thank you Lord. Aaron Judge is staying in Pinstripes for the rest of his career after signing an enormous 9-year, $360 Million contract. It is the third highest paid contract in the league in terms of total money, behind only Dodgers’ Mookie Betts at $365 million and Angels’ Mike Trout at $426.5 million.
You can’t say the guy didn’t deserve it. He bet on himself after the Yankees offered him a contract that I think most people could agree was, at the time, pretty fair. He answered his own call after putting up historic numbers, breaking the AL Home Run record, also a Yankee record, of Roger Maris 61 Home Runs. He also batted over .300, led the MLB in RBI and pretty much every other major offensive category. He was a machine that helped carry the Yankees to 99 wins and the ALCS.
What an absolute debacle it was the night before he signed, as New York Post reporter Jon Heyman said it “Looked like Judge was headed to SF” and every news outlet ran with it despite no one else reporting it. Heyman then walked it back, and as I predicted, there was silence the rest of the night. In the early morning everyone finally got an answer. However, this is exactly what Steinbrenner needed to do in order to maintain power and control: go get his Guy.
Sources: Last night that Yankees were at 8/$320MM for Judge. They believed SDP was at $400 and Giants would get there. Hal got on phone w/Judge, asked him if he wanted to be a Yankee. Judge said yes but need 9th year.Hal/Judge closed deal.
— Andy Martino (@martinonyc) December 7, 2022
As I mentioned on spaces last night, Hal Steinbrenner was taking over negotiations. Cashman was playing hard-ball, and Steinbrenner recognized he was not going to get it done. Good on him to lock up the homegrown superstar. https://t.co/sc3WY6Eb7e
— MLB Nerds (@MLBNerds) December 7, 2022
It is an enormous red flag that Steinbrenner had to step in to stop Cashman from butchering this deal with his hard ball nonsense way of negotiating with Franchise players. On top of the fact they just extended Cashman for four years, there are definitely still some questionable things going on in the Front Office.
It’s all good either way, the Yankees got their guy, WE got OUR guy. Judge deserved it, and I’m glad he isn’t going to be a Yankee for life. I’d imagine the next steps are for Judge to be named Captain, but one step at a time.
Leave A Comment