No, Aaron Judge didn’t reveal where he’ll be signing after winning the American League MVP award on Thursday.
He also didn’t really offer any strong hints on which way he is leaning, which is to be expected. We are only a week into free agency, and Judge mentioned he’s still very early in the process.
He did bring up one criteria, however, and framed it as the primary thing that will inform his decision.
“My ultimate most important thing is I want to be in a winning culture and be on a team that’s committed to winning,” Judge said. “First and foremost, it’s just about being in a winning culture.”
Of course there is something self-fulfilling about that statement. Any team willing to shell out the type of cash that Judge is going to command would seem to be making a significant commitment to trying to put a winning team on the field.
Defining a winning culture is a bit trickier, but most would likely define the Giants as one of those clubs. Judge himself has said over the years that he admires San Francisco’s organizational culture, and it’s one that recently produced a team that won 107 games two seasons ago.
Unfortunately for the Giants, both of those descriptors also define Judge’s current club in New York.
Judge says he has already begun talking to teams and implied he doesn’t want to wait too long to sign, so as to allow the team to also add other pieces around him.
“I don’t know how fast it’s going to go or how slow it’s going to go, but there are teams we’ve talked to,” Judge said. “For me, if we’re going to build a winning team, if I can get myself out of the way so they can move on or add some more pieces, I think that’s an advantage.”