Let’s start with this: Few people know what Aaron Judge wants.
Perhaps his agent. Probably his parents. Almost definitely his wife. There just isn’t one other handful.
Members of the Yankees’ front office aren’t in that select group. Among the individuals who know Judge one of the best — his now-former teammates — aren’t sure what to anticipate. DJ LeMahieu said he can be “shocked” if Judge doesn’t return to The Bronx. Anthony Rizzo “hope[s]” Judge can be back and believes he must be baseball’s highest-paid player. Several have said they do not know.
The Yankees can tempt Judge with fame, legacy and loyalty. A team resembling the Giants — or, more precisely, a team that’s the Giants — may offer a more joyful situation and present a distinct style of loyalty: to his family, who live in Northern California and would love a shorter commute to see him play.
Does Judge wish to play in the most important market in baseball, which commands the worldwide attention that has propelled him right into a rare larger-than-life MLB player?
Does Judge want the comforts outside the limelight and with a smaller, happier fan base that can never activate him?
We are going to discover soon enough because Judge is officially a free agent. Judge — together with Andrew Benintendi, Zack Britton, Matt Carpenter, Miguel Castro, Aroldis Chapman, Marwin Gonzalez, Chad Green and Jameson Taillon — hit the market once the World Series finished up Saturday night.
Thus began a five-day window during which the Yankees and nobody else (technically, not less than) can negotiate a contract with Judge. The Mets took advantage of the exclusive window by locking up Edwin Diaz on Sunday with a record $102 million deal. The Yankees following suit can be shocking: Judge has made it clear he’ll ensure each team can bid on his services.
By all reports, the Yankees’ chief competition is the club Judge grew up rooting for, though teams resembling the Dodgers and Mets could lurk.
There are many considerations that can go into Judge’s decision — does he wish to break Mike Trout’s position-player record of $35.5 million per season? Is he willing to take a shorter deal that will enable him to outpace the $43.3 million Max Scherzer earns per season? However the preference that may be most fascinating is whether or not Judge prioritizes pressure or peace.
The Yankees can (and doubtless will) top any offer the superstar receives, but they can’t promise him unchecked adoration. The underside-line, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately nature of Latest York fans was laid bare in October, when some ignored a 61-year-old record he broke and booed the homegrown and best Yankees player after two games within the ALDS.
One-hundred sixty-two games and a latest American League home run mark were wiped away by seven strikeouts.
“It might suck for him to depart,” Isiah Kiner-Falefa said after the Yankees were knocked out of the ALCS by the Astros. “But at the identical time, I don’t know the main points with [his] family and where he grew up. And he got booed here — after 62 home runs.”
What’s normal in Latest York — praising the nice and condemning the bad — just isn’t normal elsewhere. A young Judge cheered for his Giants, a franchise that honored Ryan Vogelsong (48-49, 3.93 ERA in seven San Francisco seasons) on its Wall of Fame. Barry Bonds, ostracized in nearly every other corner of the baseball world, is a god at what’s now called Oracle Park. Brandon Crawford endured considered one of the worst seasons in baseball in 2019, and constant supporters left the Bay Area-born shortstop alone. Giants fans maintain their very own.
Judge and his family know this. The Yankees players who watched Joey Gallo get hissed out of town and Aaron Hicks get jeered into the dugout know the way toxic life on this highlight will be.
“After 62 home runs and to get booed, I don’t think that they understand the greatness. What we saw might never, ever occur again,” said Kiner-Falefa, who was asked whether the fans’ behavior could influence Judge’s decision. “It could affect how perhaps his family felt about things. But I wasn’t within the stands, so I don’t know.”
Few do. Judge, eternally upbeat in public, shrugged off the boos within the moment and said, “I’ve got to play higher.” Through the postseason, on-field excellence was his only course to avoid the fans’ wrath. He now has a much clearer path.
If Judge truly doesn’t mind the pressure, he can be back in pinstripes, which might offer him an unparalleled platform in a sport during which regionalism allows stars to be buried in smaller markets. Derek Jeter wouldn’t be Derek Jeter© if he played in one other market. A star born in Latest York is a star that burns brilliant and long. Awaiting Judge could possibly be a legacy of conquering the world’s biggest stage, which he likely would do with a “C” on his jersey and an eventual spot in Monument Park. Awaiting him, then, could possibly be immortality.
Does he wish to proceed on this proving ground and swing for baseball’s highest ceiling? Or is he comfortable with a ceiling that only home can offer?
“If it’s my money to spend,” Kiner-Falefa said, “he’d be back obviously.”
The Judge negotiations are about greater than money, though. It’s difficult to examine the Yankees getting outbid, nevertheless it just isn’t hard to see why Judge would walk anyway.
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🏈 VACCARO: The Jets proved they belong once more
⚾ SHERMAN: Edwin Diaz’s record contract is definitely worth the risk for Mets
🏒 BROOKS: Rangers already on the clock to seek out identity
Forget the QB. The Jets are good
There was an comprehensible amount of focus (and sometimes panic) on Zach Wilson, who rarely has played just like the franchise quarterback the Jets hope he can turn out to be.
The 2022 Jets won’t need a franchise quarterback.
Wilson was high-quality Sunday — 18-of-25 passing for 154 yards and a touchdown — and that’s all of the Jets needed him to be to take down the powerhouse Bills, 20-17, at MetLife Stadium.
Wilson’s biggest pass went for a primary all the way down to Denzel Mims on a third-and-5 late within the fourth quarter, which burned more break day the clock and led to the go-ahead field goal. The short pass to a crossing Mims was not extraordinary, nevertheless it was the style of accurate, 12-yard completion NFL quarterbacks need to deliver. The Jets’ run game, defense and special teams delivered the remainder.
The hookup with Mims represented Wilson’s only throw on the game-winning drive. The Jets leaned heavily on their running game, and Michael Carter and James Robinson ripped off 4 straight runs of not less than 7 yards to bring the Jets down the sphere. The Jets finished with 174 yards rushing, which helped keep Josh Allen off the sphere.
When he was on the sphere, Allen was picked off twice by a Jets defense that appeared to confuse him. The do-everything quarterback still ran for 86 yards and bullied his strategy to first downs at times, but Allen can bulldoze every team. The wonderful Jets pass rush sacked him five times and hit him several times more.
The special teams — and training staff — got here through, too, with a fake punt run early within the third quarter that will have mattered more if Wilson was not strip-sacked later within the drive.
It is much too early to say the Jets have a quarterback, however the Jets appear to have a team.
The Kyrie-less Nets are 2-0
We aren’t going to argue here the Nets are higher, on the court, without Kyrie Irving. Irving, even with defensive limitations, is a perennial All-Star with surreal skills. The Nets opening 2-6 with Irving and ripping off two wins since his suspension has more to do with the opponents than with the Nets’ roster.
But isn’t it not less than interesting how inspired the Nets have played in wins in Washington (by 42!) and Charlotte?
Within the pair of games without Irving, the Nets have averaged 27.5 assists. Within the eight games Irving has played, the Nets averaged 24.6. The Nets are running their offense more through Kevin Durant — which might never be a nasty thing. Cam Thomas has dusted off his uniform, and the Nets have won his combined 61 minutes by 49 points. Yuta Watanabe has looked like a legitimate find.
Irving’s brush with antisemitism and Ben Simmons’ bothersome knee have turned the Nets into Kevin and the Kids, which is working.
“We rallied around one another,” Durant said after the Nets accomplished a comeback against the Hornets. “It was a troublesome week for us, and it’s all the time good to only get back to the sport.”
This just isn’t quite last season — when a celebratory Bruce Brown declared after James Harden was traded that “Everybody likes everybody” — nevertheless it actually is curious that the Nets have thrived in a couple of games without Irving. They visit Luka Doncic and the Mavericks (5-3) on Monday night.
There is no such thing as a telling where the Irving saga goes next, so the team’s ability to navigate these games could possibly be telling.