New York Yankees fans got up this morning with some excellent news: they had re-signed reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge to a nine-year, $360 million contract. That’s quite a bit more than what they offered before the start of the regular season, which was seven years and $213.5 million.
Ever since the World Series ended, the Yankees have competed with the San Francisco Giants for Judge’s signature. They are the team Judge rooted for when he was a kid, and they prepared a visit and a huge offer that was believed to be better than the Yankees’.
However, in the last few hours between Tuesday and Wednesday, a ‘mystery team’ appeared on negotiations and almost gave the Yankees a scare.
The San Diego Padres, after swinging and missing on Trea Turner, were prepared to make Judge a very, very rich man.
The Yankees star left an incredible offer on the table
That’s an incredibly good offer that would have given Judge an extra year at the same salary he signed up for.
That means extra job security at a very competitive compensation.
He did end up giving the Yankees a discount because he left better offers at the table to return.
Judge, who slashed .311/.425/.686 with 62 homers, 133 runs and 131 RBI in 2022, would have been very hard to replace for the Yankees.
They would have had to get creative and sign Brandon Nimmo, a top pitcher, and perhaps one of the top shortstops (Xander Bogaerts, Carlos Correa or Dansby Swanson), not to mention entering the trade market.
That wasn’t necessary because he showed his loyalty to the Yankees.
At long last, and after a few grueling weeks of negotiations, the Yankees can go ahead and plan the rest of their offseason knowing they have Judge back in the fold.