After NY Post columnist Jon Heyman briefly broke the internet yesterday when he prematurely reported that Aaron Judge had signed with the San Francisco Giants, it appears that the reigning MVP’s free agency has come to an end for real this time.
Judge has signed a 9yr/$360M deal to rejoin the Yankees in a deal that will keep him in the Bronx through his age 39 season.
The 30 year old led the AL in HRs (62), RBIs (131), OPS (1.111) and was 2nd in batting average (.311) en route to his first career MVP award. According to reports, the Yankees had offered Judge $320M over 8 years earlier this week, however after larger contracts were brought forward by the Giants and Padres, New York upped their ante to seal the deal.
Heyman is now reporting that it’s highly likely the Yankees give Judge the captaincy as part of the deal as well:
The Yankees went 99-63 in 2022, winning the AL East and advancing to the ALCS before falling to the eventual champion Houston Astros.
The club appeared to be running away with the division in the spring following a blistering start. However the team stumbled towards the end of the year, as they saw their once insurmountable lead shrink before their eyes as Toronto, Tampa, and Baltimore closed the gap.
Were it not for Judge’s historic season, in which he broke the American League home run record, it’s quite possible the Bronx Bombers could have fallen out of the playoff picture altogether. Luckily, Judge’s offense was enough to weather the storm, and highlighted what an important part of the Yankees lineup he truly was.
In addition to his AL MVP award, Judge is also a 4x All-Star, 3x Silver Slugger award winner, and back to back All-MLB first team selection. The 2017 rookie of the year winner has hit 220HRs in 729 games with the Yankees and appeared in career best 157 games for New York in 2022.
In terms of total value, Judge’s 9 year deal is the 3rd largest in MLB history, trailing only Mike Trout’s 12yr/$426.5M deal, and Mookie Betts 12yr/$365M pact. The 6’7” outfielder set career highs in virtually every offensive category in 2022, as his “bet” on himself paid off in a massive way.
Prior to the 2022 campaign, Judge turned down a reported 7yr/$213.5M offer from New York. Now, he’ll be roughly $150M richer as a result of his belief in himself.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Keith Allison. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.