Cashman leaves Aaron Judge decision to owners as Giants keen to bid

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Like any other in New York, Yankees’ general manager Brian Cashman wants Aaron Judge back in pinstripes. He gave all the reasons why the Yankees need to get him back, both on and off the field, and admitted that Judge “ticks all the boxes.” However, Cashman also told that the final decision over Aaron Judge’s new contract is “ultimately up to the owners.” Hal Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ owner, will make the final decision on how far the team is willing to go.

Friday, at the end of the season press conference in New York, Cashman said again that getting Judge back is the most important thing. He told:

“We’d love to keep him and we’d love to have him back. Obviously he placed a bet on himself before the season and that has paid off. He had an amazing run and continued to add to that back of his baseball card, and he’s got a lot more game left in him. We hope that game happens to remain in the pinstripes, that’s all I can say.”

Cashman picked Aaron Judge in the 2013 draft and watched him become a star. Now that Judge is free to sign with any team, Cashman is also without a guaranteed deal. His last contract ended at the end of October, but he said Friday that he thinks he and Steinbrenner will be able to come to a deal soon.

The general manager had words of appreciation for Aaron Judge on Friday. He said:

“He’s a fan favorite. He interacts with our fans extremely well. He’s respected within that clubhouse and goes about his business as good as you possibly can and is an elite performer and one of the game’s best, if not the best, player. Those are the type that you want to retain and have as long as you possibly can, and it involves a lot of different categories. You want a team that can compete with a championship and ultimately win a championship — a player like him would help you do that as you move forward.”

Fans in New York want to see Aaron Judge play in pinstripes. He has all the material to play an important role in a great team. The power hitter can draw crowds to the stadium and bring more advertisements. However, often such players turn so big that they outgrow teams and become capable to bring everything to a standstill when they are out on the plate or the mound. Aaron Judge ranks among those superstars.

Aaron Judge has been a Yankee his whole career, but he is about to become a free agent after having one of the best seasons in MLB history. He hit 62 home runs while at bat, which was an American League record. 311 with an OPS of 1.111.

For Giants fans and a lot of people working for the team, this offseason is mostly about trying to get Aaron Judge to San Francisco. There is a lot of pressure on the team to bring him back to the Bay Area as a free agent. The Giants are hoping that Aaron Judge is ready to move to Northern California, where he grew up as a Giants fan. They need a big boost for their lineup and Judge can do that. Also, the slugger can bring more people to Oracle Park, which had its worst season in 2022.

The Giants have been interested in Aaron Judge for a long time. They are nourishing an expectation to snatch him away after the power hitter turned down the Yankees’ last offer before the season — $213.5 million over seven years.

There are talks about Aaron Judge being upset after Cashman told everyone about the offer, but Cashman said he had already conveyed about the disclosure to Judge’s agent, Page Odle. The general manager was right when he said that “deals are never kept secret these days and that someone would have told the media about it.”

When asked on Friday if there had been any more talk since the Yankees’ season ended last month, Cashman said, “No comment.” He refused to disclose if the Yankees have a hard limit on how much they’d offer to Aaron Judge.

Cashman did say that Aaron Judge should decide quickly so that the team would be built around him or without him, but the Yankees have no choice but to be patient. Judge is the kind of player one have have to wait for the whole offseason for.

“He’s earned the right to be a free agent, so he’s going to tell everyone how to dance,” Cashman said. “He has worked very hard to get where he is now, so we’ll see how things turn out.”

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