THE JUDGE INSTRUCTED THE JURY & THEY AGREED!

Officially this week, the Yankees held a press conference announcing the re-signing of Aaron Judge!  The terms were:  9 years at a total of $360,000,000. They also did what most Yankees’ fans and team members wanted, they named him as their “Captain” – the 16^th
Captain in team history.  Derek Jeter was at the press conference which helped symbolize the reigning Captaincy hand-off.

The San Fransisco Giants and the San Diego Padres tried hard to persuade Judge to join their teams, but Judge and Hal Steinbrenner had strong discussions after Judge’s latest south coast offers.  Judge spoke to Hal during the wee hours of the morning and Hal convincingly offered Judge the final deal, keeping Judge in the only true pinstripes in baseball.  Supposedly, Judge was offered an additional $40 million by the Padres but it seemed like (this is my take) he instead told Hal to use it towards helping to improve the team in other areas.  If I’m correct, then that was truly an exemplification of Captaincy right there!  Also, kudos to Aaron Boone for reaching out to Judge hours before the ultimate conversation Judge had with Hal.  Apparently, Aaron went into an extreme heart-to-heart conversation about how much Judge meant to him and also to the teammates.  Judge did refer to that conversation when offering some of the reasons why he stayed with the Yankees.

Hal didn’t waste too much time demonstrating his promise to Judge as, days later, he signed MLB’s best starting pitcher (who was not about to be 40 years old) Carlos Rodón (who just turned 30 years old) to a $162,000,000/9-year contract.  His lefty arm and dominating arsenal is exactly what is needed in Yankee Stadium and, generally, most of the other ballparks too.

Since the beginning of the 2023 season is slightly over 3 months away, there’s still plenty of time for Hal and Cashman to improve our team even further than the re-signing of Judge, the new acquisition of Rodón, and a few other small deals they’ve recently done.  We all know our primary need is a new leftfielder, as no Yankee fan can take having Aaron Hicks anymore.  Perhaps Cashman can find some takers for him, Donaldson, and even IKF.  I would also like to see them add another bullpen pitcher, in addition to our recent re-signing of Tommy Kahnle.  I’m hoping whoever we potentially trade for in leftfield is no older than 30 years and is of All-Star caliber. We’ll see, but let’s not “Judge” our current roster too early!