All eyes on Aaron Judge's pending free agency
Yankees rightfielder Aaron Judge (99) walks to the dugout after striking out in the sixth inning in Game 3 of the ALCS at Yankee Stadium on October 22, 2022. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
PHILADELPHIA – It won’t just be Yankees fans – not to mention Yankees players – closely following Aaron Judge’s free agency once the World Series ends.
The interest will be industry-wide, particularly among players.
“I think the whole league will following it,” Astros third baseman, and two-time All-Star, Alex Bregman told Newsday. “He’s the MVP of the league and he’s a free agent and not often the MVP is a free agent.”
Judge, after hitting an American League record 62 homers this season – breaking the record of 61 hit by Roger Maris in 1961 – is a heavy favorite to be named the AL MVP later this month when the award is announced by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, whose members vote on the award.
“I don’t think you’re going to be able to ignore it,” Astros closer Ryan Pressley said of Judge’s free agency. “I hope he gets the bag [a lot of money], man. I hope he goes out there and does whatever he wants to do, sets his family up for the rest of his life. From what I’ve heard, he’s just nothing but a good human being as well. So I hope nothing but the best for him. Wherever he ends up, I wish him nothing but the best.”
Judge’s “bag” figures to be immense after taking the ultimately gamble on himself just before the start of the regular season in turning down the Yankees’ $213.5 million extension. The final dollar amount he ends up signing almost assuredly will dwarf that total, with rival executives predicting whatever the amount, it most certainly will have a “3” in front of it.
"He bet on himself on the biggest stage, in the biggest market, and did it with ease,” first baseman Anthony Rizzo said of Judge after the Yankees were swept in four games in the ALCS. “He should be rewarded as the highest-paid player in the game. He's the new gold standard, in my opinion."
Rizzo, who along with Judge were the Yankees’ clubhouse leaders, called the outfielder “the total package.”
“There's plenty of money in this game to be spread around,” Rizzo said. “Whatever he gets is going to be astronomical, and he deserves it."
Following his club’s Game 4 loss to the Astros, manager Aaron Boone said he hoped to see Judge in the Bronx “for a long time,” adding later: “I don't even want to think about the alternative right now,” a feeling enunciated by Rizzo and everyone else in the Yankees’ clubhouse.
“He definitely wants to be here,” DJ LeMahieu said. “But when it becomes a business, it changes a lot.”
Yankees centerfielder Harrison Bader, in Philadelphia for the World Series doing some analyst work for MLB Network, said on the field before Game 3 at Citizens Bank Park that Judge has “earned everything that comes his way.”
Bader, who joined the Yankees at the trade deadline – in exchange for Jordan Montgomery – said “hopefully we’re in the same uniform because I really enjoyed playing with him,” and was “looking forward to seeing how it plays out.”
Most echo Phillies manager Rob Thomson, who spent 28 years in the Yankees organization from 1990-2017, who said of Judge: “It’s hard for me to believe that he wouldn’t be a Yankee.”
Bader, however, as did LeMahieu and others in the Yankees clubhouse, cautioned about the “business” of baseball and how the expected outcome isn’t always the final one.
Judge, drafted into the organization in 2013, has frequently said his desire is to be “a Yankee for life,” something he reiterated after the ALCS loss to the Astros.
“I’ve been clear about that since I first wore the pinstripes,” he said. “But we couldn’t get something done before spring training. I’m a free agent. We’ll see what happens.”
And what happens during that free agency period will captivate the sport, however long it lasts.
“He just had one of the greatest seasons ever as a hitter,” said Astros reliever Hunter Brown, who was on the Houston ALCS roster but not on its World Series roster. “There’s a lot of curiosity in that to see who’s going to sign him, if it’s going to be the Yankees or somebody else.”
Trevino, LeMahieu grab Gold Gloves
Yankees catcher Jose Trevino was awarded the AL Rawlins Gold Glove in a pregame announcement Tuesday and LeMahieu received one in the recently created “utility” category. It was Trevino’s first Gold Glove and the fourth for LeMahieu, who previously won three at second base while with the Rockies.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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