The Yankees offered Aaron Judge $300 million for eight years a few days ago. The Giants have bettered it with a $360 million offer, as reported by Jon Heyman of the New York Post. As the competition to sign the reigning AL MVP has dwindled down to two, both teams are locked in a high-profile race.
Aaron Judge remains the all-important target for the Yankees while the San Francisco Giants have made it clear that they mean business. But according to Heyman, other teams think the New York Yankees are still the favorites to re-sign Judge. However, the team has been clueless about what is going on with their star player.
Jeff Passan of ESPN said last week that the Yankees have made an offer worth about $300 million over eight years to Aaron Judge and were open to raising it if the Giants are willing to push the market even further.
It was expected that the Giants would be the main team New York would have to beat to sign Aaron Judge. Randy Miller of NJ.com earlier in October predicted that the Yankees want the 30-year-old the most and “won’t let anyone outbid them.”
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic has foreseen that it’s “becoming more likely” that Aaron Judge’s final deal will be for nine guaranteed years.
Rosenthal did say that the Los Angeles Dodgers are interested, but they would rather sign Aaron Judge to a short-term deal with a high average annual salary than a long-term deal with a lower average annual salary. But the power hitter reportedly wants a nine-year contract.
The Giants have been doing everything they can to show Aaron Judge how much they want him. Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area said that the four-time All-Star met Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry when he was in San Francisco last month.
Aaron Judge is from California, and the Oakland Athletics took him in the 31st round of the 2010 draft right out of high school. He chose to go to college at Fresno State. Three years later, the Yankees picked him up in the first round.
The slugger has been in the major leagues since 2016. Since then, he has hit 220 home runs, had a .407 weighted on-base average, a .583 slugging percentage, and seven FanGraphs wins above replacement (36.1).
During the 2022 AL season, Aaron Judge hit 62 home runs, which was an AL record. He also led the MLB in on-base percentage (.425), slugging percentage (.686), and total bases (391).
After winning 107 games in 2021, the Giants had a reality check last year when they ended the season 81-81. In the last six years, they have missed the playoffs five times.
Aaron Judge belongs to the Yankees, asserts manager Boone
Tuesday, Aaron Boone, the manager of the Yankees, told reporters at the winter meetings in San Diego:
“I’ve always felt that way with Aaron, and I always feel like he certainly belongs in pinstripes, and a guy of his stature and his greatness hopefully spends his entire career in Monument Park and into the Hall of Fame as a Yankee. He certainly feels that way, and that would be the hope.”
But he said he didn’t know anything about Aaron Judge.
“I know nothing; I really don’t, we haven’t heard anything,” Boone said, adding that the question was better directed toward GM Brian Cashman.
Time named Judge Athlete of the Year on Tuesday, and he talked about his free agency process and even said that his contract talks with the Yankees last offseason were not good. Before the season, the Yankees said that they had offered Judge a seven-year, $213 million deal, which the power hitter had turned down.
Can the Yankees outbid the Giants? What do you think? Leave your comment below.
