generic Aaron Judge’s Shadow Hangs Over MLB Winter Meetings
Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings open Monday at the Manchester Hyatt on the San Diego waterfront, and free-agent outfielder Aaron Judge’s decision about where he will play for the next eight-plus years hangs over the proceedings.
It seems to be a choice between the New York Yankees, who drafted and nurtured him during the first seven years of his career, and the San Francisco Giants, who play at Oracle Park, some 90 miles from where he grew up in Linden, Calif.
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The Yankees have reportedly offered Judge an eight-year contract worth $300 million, which they wouldn’t confirm; this past spring, he turned down a $213.5 million, seven-year offer. The Giants wouldn’t say if they’d actually made an offer after hosting Judge for a day prior to Thanksgiving.
Well in excess of $1 billion in free agents remain unsigned heading into the meetings—the first year they have been held since 2019 due to COVID-19 and the lockout—including a quartet of high-profile shortstops: Carlos Correa, Trea Turner, Dansby Swanson and Xander Bogaerts.
But without question, Judge’s decision has cast a shadow, just as Gerrit Cole’s did in 2019. The Yankees and Giants really can’t make another significant move until they discover where Judge is going. And that signing will have an impact on the entire market.
In 2019, $1.069 billion was spent at the San Diego meetings, including Cole’s nine-year, $324 million deal with New York. This is the first full free agency since the lockout and the new five-year Basic Agreement, signed earlier this year. The spending could dwarf 2019’s figure.
This time, the Yankees are trying to retain their own player, who broke the club and American League record with 62 homers this past season and led MLB in every other offensive category, save batting average.
“He’s our best player,” general manager Brian Cashman recently told reporters. “He plays amazing defense. He’s an amazing offensive player and baserunner. He can beat you on all ends. He’s a great team leader, someone that’s an impactful player in that clubhouse. Our fans love him, too. There’s not one box he hasn’t checked. Obviously, that’s why he’s in a great position as a free agent.”
Cashman—who, like Judge, is a free agent—has continued to work for the Yankees as he resolves his contractual situation with principal owner Hal Steinbrenner. He is expected to remain in his position, as Sportico reported back in August.
Prior to the playoffs, Cashman said that Judge “bet on himself, and it’s the all-time best bet, the way he navigated the season.”
Whether Cashman’s fate is tied to Judge’s decision is to be determined.
For their part, the Yankees, who were swept by the eventual World Series-winning Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series, have other needs, although Judge would leave a gaping hole in their lineup and outfield.
The holes don’t include first base; the Yanks signed Judge’s close friend Anthony Rizzo last month to a three-year deal—two years and an option—that could be worth as much as $51 million.
Rizzo opted out of his contract after the postseason and his signing could be a clue to whether the Yanks will be able to re-sign Judge, among others.
“We will be in play with trying to improve our team in other aspects, not just our attempt to sign Judge,” Cashman said. “We have more work to do. He’s quite aware of that. Obviously, he wants to [play for] a team that’s capable of taking a shot at a World Series title. There are certain aspects that we need to attend to, and it would be perfect if we can deal with all of that this winter.”
The Yankees haven’t even been to the World Series since defeating the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009.
The Astros, who beat the Phillies in six games to win this year’s World Series, come into the Winter Meetings without a GM because incumbent James Click was fired less than a week after Houston’s victory. Astros owner Jim Crane offered both Click and manager Dusty Baker—the recent World Series win was his first in 25 years of managing—one year deals. Baker accepted, and Click turned it down. Days later, he was told to leave.
Yet, Crane directed the Astros to sign free-agent first baseman Jose Abreu to a three-year, $58.5 million contract, effectively replacing incumbent Yuli Gurriel, one of five guys to play on both Houston’s 2017 and 2022 World Series winners.
That move happened prior to the meetings as did often-injured right-hander Jacob deGrom’s move from the New York Mets to the Texas Rangers for five years, $185 million.
The rest of the market awaits Judge’s judgement, although no teams, aside from the Yanks, have more hanging on the decision than the Giants. Barring other moves, adding Judge instantly gives San Francisco a chance to move back into contention after finishing 81-81 and missing the playoffs in 2022.
There’s been some speculation that the Giants might want to spend their money filling multiple roster spots rather than splurging it all on Judge. Like the Yanks, the Giants have a number of other issues.
“It’s a fair point,” Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi told reporters last month in Las Vegas at the GM meetings. “I think everybody’s dealing with that same tradeoff between concentrating financial resources on one or two roster spots versus being able to hit up on multiple spots.
“From a financial standpoint, there’s nobody that would be out of our capability to meet what we expect the contract demands will be. Then it’ll be a question of whether there’s mutual interest and how we put together the best possible team. It’s not going to be by any one player.”
Judge then made his well-documented visit to San Francisco, and how it all ends up may be revealed this week at the Winter Meetings.
