@PrTeam thank goodness I no longer have to publicly bash Hal Steinbrenner, Brian Cashman, and Aaron Boone. If Judge left I was willing to say I’ll never show face at Yankee Stadium again until Hal sold the team. Phew!
Signing him to 9 years, $360 million (per @jonmorosi) makes him a Yankee for life. Now it’s time to build the team around him and win a ring so he can truly be added to the Yankee immortals club.
From this point on was written around 7 pm on 12/6…
I’ll be honest, the first time Aaron Judge made an appearance with the team I thought he looked like a giant goober. He got called up immediately after A-Rod was released in the 2016 season, wore the baseball pants all the way down to his cleats, and struck out 42 times in 84 at-bats (every other at-bat for those not good with quick math - I got you).
He dealt with some injuries in his short stint with the ballclub in 2016 and still had Rookie Eligibility (players on Major League teams must have played at least 130 at-bats, 50 innings pitched, or 45 days on the active roster prior to September 1st). He came back a different player with a new look, socks up to his knees, and an open batting stance. He immediately got off to a hot start in the first half, hitting .329 with 30 homers and outslugged his future teammate Giancarlo Stanton in the Homerun Derby that season. He struggled some in the second half, only going yard 22 times, and was robbed from winning his first MVP award by a twerp in Houston.
In 2018-2020, Judge was labeled injury-prone for missing games due to a chip fracture in his wrist (on a hit by a pitch in ‘18), an oblique strain in ‘19, and a collapsed lung in ‘20. He played in 242 games in those 3 seasons (the ‘20 season was only 60 games because of COVID), hit .274 with a .381 on-base % and 63 homers. He played through pain and never missed a single postseason game despite these injuries. In his ‘21 season, Judge proved he was able to stay healthy and put up 39 homers in a 4th-place MVP campaign.
@YouTheReader just witnessed his ‘22 MVP 62-homer season so you already know the story. Whether he ends up in the Bay Area, on a mystery team, or back in the Bronx, the goober giant turned into the face of baseball. No matter what it’s going to be tough to root against the guy willing to bet on himself and delivered a regular season for the ages.