@TalkinYanks
The day is finally here that I can blog that Aaron Judge is returning to the New York Yankees. Well after @JonHeyman tried to lie to everyone yesterday and say Aaron Judge was accepting a 9 year deal worth $360 million with the San Francisco Giants, and then quickly said it was not official. Well @OrdioMongo said it best, Heyman is probably scrolling through Indeed this morning after botching the initial scoop.
The New York Yankees are re-signing reigning American League MVP Aaron Judge, reports Jon Morosi of MLB.com. It’s a nine-year, $360MM contract, tweets Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The agreement is still pending the completion of a physical. It’s the largest free-agent contract in MLB history, topping Bryce Harper’s previous $330MM record. The $40MM average annual value on the contract establishes a new record among position players and trails only the matching $43.33MM AAVs of Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander — both of whom are on shorter-term deals.
The Yankees also become the first team ever to have 3 players with $300+ million contracts (Staton, Cole).
Now onto the deal. It's a move the Yankees had to make, you could not lose the reigning AL MVP, who set the AL home run record or you would just regress no matter what other moves you made if Judge left. $40 million/year is a lot if you think of Judge's history with injury, and post season performance. The only thing I dislike about the contract is the length of it. So let's focus on the positives, Judge plays elite defense, hits absolute NUKES, and can also hit for average and pretty swift on the bases.
It is official, but it has been said that Judge is expected to be named the next captain of the New York Yankees. He had to the choice to go the path of Derek Jeter, stay with the same team for your career, or be like Robinson Cano and chase the bag and long contract elsewhere and eventually get popped for steroids. Judge is a locker room guy, the team absolutely loves him, guys want to be him, and women want to be with him. Couldn't ask for anything more out of this guy. You pray their is no regression and slump after this historic season, but glad to have the big fella back in pinstripes.
Maybe resigning Brian Cashman to a 4 year extension wasn't that bad? Now go resign Andrew Benintendi, and Carlos Rodon and anyone else to not get swept by the Astros again.
Enjoy the highlights from Judges historic 2022 season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLUgNOrnsa8