Well, so much for all of that.
After a false alarm on Tuesday afternoon when MLB reporter Jon Heyman said Aaron Judge was headed to the Giants before retracting his report, the American League home run champ is reportedly staying in the Bronx for the foreseeable future.
Judge is staying with the Yankees on a nine-year deal worth $360 million, as first reported by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The news comes as a major blow to the Giants whose quest to land a big name free agent falls short once again. Judge would’ve easily become the franchise’s most exciting addition since the new ownership group signed Barry Bonds in 1992.
According to reports, the Padres also made a last-minute pitch to Judge worth a reported $10-year, $400 million. That was enough to get the Yankees to bump their offer up to $360 million, which was enough to get him to stay.
It’s likely the Giants will now make a hard pivot to the shortstop market, where Carlos Correa is thought to be their primary target. Another outfielder and starting pitcher are also likely still on the docket.
As they did with Bryce Harper in Farhan Zaidi’s first offseason, the Giants made their best possible pitch for Judge, hosting him in San Francisco for two days and reportedly also making a $360 million offer. Ultimately, the allure of returning to California to play for his boyhood team was not more enticing than a future as the Yankees captain.
Judge is coming off a season where he won the American League MVP by breaking Roger Maris’ record, leading MLB in homers, runs, RBI, OPS and WAR. And by hitting .311.
Judge grew up in the Yankees organization and blossomed on the field. He hit .179 in his first call-up in 2016 — a brief stretch he still uses as motivation — before winning Rookie of the Year honors the next year by hitting 52 home runs and finishing second in AL MVP voting.
Injuries plagued him in 2018, 2019 and 2020. A cracked rib and collapsed lung here, a calf strain, oblique pull and wrist fracture there. He’s stayed healthy the past two seasons, though, crediting the advice of veterans to ease up his activity in the batting cage.
The rare coalescence of size, strength, mentality, and plate discipline has made Judge arguably the most feared hitter in baseball. In 2022, he posted an OPS+ of 211, indicating he was twice as productive as the average hitter.
Judge led MLB in homers, runs, RBI, OPS, WAR, slugging percentage and on-base percentage. He hit .311, contending for the Triple Crown until the last few weeks of the season.
He barreled up a league-high 26.5% of batted balls. He slugged both a league-best .801 against four-seam fastballs and .763 against sliders. There are no holes in his swing, no faults in his approach. No easy ways to get him out.
The fact that he dominated so much from the plate in the year 2022 — when pitchers are nastier, balls flew shorter distances and the league tests for performance-enhancing drugs — made his historic season even more remarkable. Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber hit the second most home runs in MLB (46), creating the largest gap between first and second on the leaderboard in 90 years.
Even during his legendary season, fissures began to show between Judge and the Yankees. Fans booed him in April after he declined the club’s seven-year, $213.5 million offer — which general manager Brian Cashman announced publicly — and they booed him in October when he slumped in the American League Championship Series.
“I was a little upset that the numbers came out,” Judge said in a TIME interview. “I understand it’s a negotiation tactic. Put pressure on me. Turn the fans against me, turn the media on me. That part of it I didn’t like.”
Those comments — and previous reports stating he was unhappy with the Yankee organization — only fueled rumors that he was headed out West.
A World Series championship ring eludes him. During Judge’s seven-year career, the Yankees have not reached a World Series — part of one of the longest pennant droughts in franchise history.
Now, he will stay in New York to try and end that drought. And it’ll begin on March 30, when the Giants open their season in Yankee Stadium.