I preface this by saying Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone have overstayed their welcome in the Bronx.
But Aaron Judge knows how the average New York Yankees fan operates, and quite frankly, he has played them like a fiddle over the last couple of weeks.
When Boone confirmed that Judge had a “moderate” calf strain, Judge made it a point that night that he was not happy his manager, who has his players’ backs to a fault, had divulged that (obviously true) information. He made it known that if it were up to him, he’d be on the field in the postseason, arguably putting pressure on the team.
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Then, minutes after the Yankees were swept by the Tampa Bay Rays, he all but threw the front office under the bus.
Judge said he wanted the organization to be “all-in,” and when asked if he felt they had been, he said, “it’s tough to say.”
“I want to trade for everybody, sign everybody every single year, but I know that’s not realistic. They give us a winning team every single year, but that’s not good enough here in New York. We’re the Yankees. You’ve got to go out there and expect championships and go all-in every year. I’m excited to see what they do,” Judge said.
It goes without saying that the offseason of running back practically the same team, headlined by giving Trent Grisham the $22 million qualifying offer, was not exactly a decision made in a Mensa meeting.
But the Yankees have a payroll of over $308 million. The three teams remaining in the American League have a combined payroll of $273.4 million. Are the Rays, Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians “all-in”?
Look, guys like Grisham, Ryan McMahon and Jazz Chisholm didn’t work here, whether it was the weight of New York or an organizational philosophy just not meshing.
Maybe Cashman should have made a harder push for, say, catcher Adley Rutschman – although Austin Wells’ bat was the least of the Yankees’ concerns after the All-Star break and in October. Maybe there are a few prospects out there, like Jasson Dominguez, Clint Frazier and Miguel Andujar, that Cashman held on to for too long. Maybe gambling on the future of Anthony Volpe instead of bringing in the proven Corey Seager (who just hit a career-worst .227 at age 32 with six years left on his deal) was the wrong move. Maybe doing the same with George Lombard Jr. and passing on Tarik Skubal (as if they really needed him) is a mistake, too.
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But before Judge even had his first arbitration case, the Yankees acquired reigning National League MVP Giancarlo Stanton, eventual MVP candidate DJ LeMahieu, and bona fide ace Gerrit Cole, fresh off a 326-strikeout, 2.50 ERA season.
Throughout his tenure, they have added players like Anthony Rizzo, Carlos Rodon, Cody Bellinger, Devin Williams, David Bednar, Luis Garcia and Max Fried, while turning almost anyone who walks into the bullpen into a threat. The Yankees have developed their next MVP candidate in Ben Rice, and Cam Schlittler is going to win the Cy Young Award next month in his first full MLB season.
Meanwhile, anyone reading this would be lucky to name a total of 10 people on this year’s notably all-in Rays, White Sox and Guardians.
To make a guess, the one “all-in” move that could have been made was keeping Juan Soto. The Yankees acquired him after missing the postseason in 2023, knowing he was going to free agency. Soto hit a career-high 41 home runs to help the Yankees to their first World Series appearance since 2009 , as Judge and Soto were the best 1-2 tandem in recent memory.
That only lasted for a year, though, as the New York Mets won the Soto sweepstakes with a 15-year, $765 million deal. The Yankees offered 16 years and $760 million, but the Mets offered Soto travel, suites and $40 million more if he does not opt out after his fifth season.
I mean, are we really going to be mad at the front office that Soto chose to take over $800 million with the Mets?
And if Soto were still in the Bronx, Bellinger and Fried would not be, so there would be something else to complain about.
Were the Yankees “all-in” when they acquired Scott Brosius to play third base ahead of the 1998 season instead of, say, Ken Caminiti, who won the NL MVP just one year prior?
Going all-in doesn’t mean having an All-Star everywhere, and Judge obviously knows that. Sometimes, “all-in” is simply masked as players playing well.
Speaking of which, here’s the ugly truth — Aaron Judge would have at least one title is he wasn’t a .205 hitter in the postseason from 2017 to 2024.
The Yankees’ title drought, tied for the longest since 1923, is the fault of many — players (including Judge) and decision-makers alike. Judge will be 35 in April, and if the impending lockout goes awry, he could be 36 by the time baseball is played again. He sees his mortality, and he’s probably desperate at this point.
But his desperation is clouding his perception of reality.
