Dodgers Offseason: The Aaron Judge Saga is Over, All-Star Agrees to Deal
Aaron Judge to the Dodgers was never realistic, not because they weren’t interested, but because he was always going to get a huge, long contract, and Los Angeles was never likely to be the team to give it to him. Giving a player of his physical profile a contract that takes him into his late 30s isn’t the modus operandi of this current front office.
For the last several days, the question came down to: Will it be the Giants or the Yankees? And we got our answer Wednesday morning.
Sources: Aaron Judge is in agreement with the #Yankees. @MLBNetwork @MLB
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 7, 2022
In the end, Judge had similar offers from the San Diego and New York, and he chose to stay home in the Bronx rather than going home to the Bay Area.
Perhaps the most unexpected part of the whole process was that the Padres jumped in as the mystery team, reportedly making the biggest offer of any of them.
The primary reason why Aaron Judge flew to San Diego on Tuesday was to meet with the San Diego #Padres.
They offered him $400 million over 10 years.
Judge stays put in New York for $360 million over nine years.— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 7, 2022
While San Diego’s reported offer and the offer Judge accepted from the Yankees are the same AAV, it’s a legitimate difference simply because, at Judge’s age, he’s unlikely to get that $40 million on another contract at the end of this one.
According to reports, the Yankees were offering eight years, and it was a conversation between the superstar and New York owner Hal Steinbrenner that got the job done.
Sources: Last night that Yankees were at 8/$320MM for Judge. They believed SDP was at $400 and Giants would get there. Hal got on phone w/Judge, asked him if he wanted to be a Yankee. Judge said yes but need 9th year.Hal/Judge closed deal.
— Andy Martino (@martinonyc) December 7, 2022
So, in the end, Judge used the free agency process to leverage the best deal possible from the team he always wanted to stay with. For as much as free agency has allowed players to bounce from team to team, it often plays out this way, which is good for baseball.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube Channel yet? Subscribe and hit that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest Dodgers news, rumors, interviews, live streams, and more!
12/7 Pearl Harbor day for the Dodger propaganda department.
For better or worse we are back to the pre Betts days of exercising our super power, finishing third or lower on all significant free agents. #ohtaniin23
geez, them pads not fooling around.
Wow! I don’t know where the Dodgers stand but the Giants and Padres are sure not afraid to offer huge money. Dodgers better wake up or we won’t even make the wild card. Now Judge is gone, teams are more aggressive to get remaining pieces. Dodgers should at least get Swanson and trade for Bryan Reynolds, both stars at Vanderbilt with Buehler. Both quality players and affordable for the Dodgers. Young guns are okay, but I don’t want to see the Dodgers with half the lineup of untested rookies. ( 1 or 2 max)
I would rather sign Bogaerts, or move Lux to SS. If it doesn’t work out, then trade for Adames and Burnes at the trade deadline. I agree with you on trading for Reynolds.
It is painfully obvious that the Padres and Giants are out playing Fraudman drastically. He should be relieved of his duties for dereliction of duty!
We are being outplayed by our rivals! Fraudman is not doing his job!!