Yankees beat writer Randy Miller got everyone excited with his report, and then his KNBR hit, where he strongly suggested that the Giants would throw all the money it takes to land Aaron Judge this offseason, and that the AL home run king would accept.
Miller said that Judge is fed up with the Yankees organization, that the Dodgers are not willing to give Judge the amount of years that the Giants are and that Judge wants to go back home to play for the team he grew up rooting for as a kid.
It was a report that sounded too good to be true, and for Giants broadcaster Dave Flemming, it was.
“That did not pass the smell test for me,” Flem said on KNBR Monday. “It did not. Not to say it won’t happen, but this time of year I think so much of this stuff — and I’m not accusing anybody specifically — but the agents are out there and the agents are just so deliberate about who they use to float messages to get certain teams to feel that outside presser.
“I’m not saying the Giants aren’t attracted to Aaron Judge or vice-versa, I think that is definitely true. But the certainty of that report did not ring totally true to me. I’m not trying to pour cold water on everything, but I wouldn’t take that to the bank that one.”
The report also said that the Giants would try to sign the likes of Trea Turner and Anthony Rizzo in addition to Judge, which essentially means that Farhan Zaidi is going to throw his typically pragmatic approach out the window and spend a king’s ransom.
Flemming does believe there is a kernel of truth to that portion of the report, and that San Francisco is going to try and catch a couple big fish.
“I do think they’re going to be aggressive, and not just one piece,” Flemming continued. “The words out of Gabe’s mouth to me late in the year was ‘We can’t run it back.’ They won 107 games, they ran it back, and it didn’t work. And they know now they can’t run it back. If you look at the current roster, they’ve locked in like 15 pieces or something, so you don’t have a ton of maneuverability if you’re going to change things fairly dramatically.
“So how do you do that without a lot of moves to make? You make a couple really impactful moves. And I do think that’s going to happen, but the idea that the Giants have no limit on Aaron Judge, and he’s the sole focus of their interest? That doesn’t sound right.”
The Giants do have money to spend, and they are willing to spend it. Does that mean they are going to hand Aaron Judge a blank check? Flemming just can’t see it.
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