New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge is coming off a 2022 campaign in which he broke the American League record for homers with 62. It culminated in the free agent winning the AL MVP award on Thursday.
The backdrop here includes speculation that Judge could potentially take his talents to the West Coast with both the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers being in on the history-making outfielder.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman discussed Judge’s status after he was announced as the AL MVP Thursday evening. In said comments, Cashman broke some news by indicating that New York has made multiple contract offers to Judge.
“We’re on the clock. So we’re certainly not going to mess around, so of course, we’ve made offers,” New York Yankees GM on Judge contract talks, via Chris Kirschner of The Athletic.
We’re assuming that this is in addition to the $213.5 million offer New York made to its slugger during the spring. Obviously, Cashman is not going to provide details as it relates to what type of offers were made (or when they were made).
New York Yankees star Aaron Judge talks MLB free agency
After winning the AL MVP Thursday evening, Judge spoke with MLB Network. He’s pretty much toeing the company line in not getting into specifics.
“I’m looking forward to getting the free-agent process going. A lot of stuff doesn’t kick in until the winter meetings in December,” Aaron Judge said regarding free agency. “As for the process, I don’t know how fast or slow it’s gonna go. The teams I talk to, if we build a winning team and get talked to. If we build a winning team and get my stuff out of the way, it’s always an advantage. Once I get into it, it might move fast or slow. You never really know.”
The expectation is that Judge will receive a contract that pays him north of $300 million. How the details of the deal play out remains to be seen. In addition to finding a landing spot, that’s part of the entire process.
As of right now, Judge’s market is going to be limited to those with huge payrolls. Hence, why he’s being linked to both the Giants and Dodgers in addition to the Yankees. What we saw from Judge this past season seems to suggest that he’ll be met with a robust market.
- Aaron Judge stats (2022): .311 average, 62 HRs, 131 RBI, .425 OBP, 1.111 OPS
The winter meetings next month could prove vital in the Judge sweepstakes. We’re not expecting anything to happen with him or other top-end free agents until those meetings start on Dec. 4 in San Diego.
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