Joc Pederson tries recruiting Aaron Judge to Giants with Instagram post

The Jay-Z-themed recruiting pitch comes shortly following Judge's first meeting with Giants' brass, according to a report from MLB.com's Mark Feinsand. Per Feinsand, Judge was "spotted in the San Francisco area" on Monday and, in a video released by MLB Network, the New York Yankees single-season home run record-holder addressed his visit in a lighthearted manner.

"Visiting some family and friends; that’s about it," he said.

If Judge is to break off his career-long relationship with New York, the Giants are expected to be one of, if not the top contender for his services. Feinsand reports that aside from the Yankees and Giants, the Los Angeles Dodgers are "also expected to be in the mix."

The four-time All-Star was born in Linden, California, which is approximately 100 miles away from San Francisco. Judge finished the 2022 regular season by leading the league in home runs (62), RBIs (131), runs scored (133), walks (111), on-base percentage (.425), slugging percentage (.686), OPS (1.111) and total bases (391).

With "plenty of payroll flexibility," Feinsand wrote on Monday that the 30-year-old could be a perfect fit financially for Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi.

"From a financial standpoint, there’s nobody that would be out of our capability to kind of meet what we expect the contract demands will be," Zaidi said earlier in November at the General Managers Meetings. "It’ll just be a question of whether there’s mutual interest and how we put together the best possible team."

According to Feinsand, Judge is "believed to be seeking" a contract of at least eight years with an average annual value exceeding $40 million.