‘Is this real?’ How 10 months of negotiations — and one eleventh-hour phone call — kept Aaron Judge in New York

Published

3 years ago

December 16, 2022

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Dec 14, 2022

BENEATH THE PINSTRIPED No. 99 uniform, behind the home runs and the good-natured smile and the perfect sound bites emitted day after day during Aaron Judge‘s historic season, New York Yankees staffers knew he harbored at least some anger. But they did not know the depth of his resentment, which came spilling out last week as Judge neared a decision about whether to return to the Bronx. That timing was one more plot twist, after weeks and months of uncertainty.

On the eve of the 2022 campaign, the Yankees had offered Judge $213.5 million over seven years, a deal that would’ve made him the second-highest-paid outfielder in the majors, behind Mike Trout. To club executives around baseball, and even to some agents and union staffers, it was a fair offer for a player who will turn 31 in April.

Judge, just seven months from free agency, turned down the proposal. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman then outlined the offer for reporters in the Yankee Stadium press room, citing the reality that the numbers would inevitably emerge through anonymous sources. Later that same day, Judge indicated to reporters he was displeased with Cashman’s revelation but didn’t really elaborate.

Last week, however, as baseball’s winter meetings began in San Diego with everyone wondering where Judge would sign, Time magazine — which named Judge its Athlete of the Year — published an interview with the slugger, in which Judge revisited the spring negotiations. “We kind of said, ‘Hey, let’s keep this between us,'” Judge told the magazine. “I was a little upset that the numbers came out. I understand it’s a negotiation tactic. Put pressure on me. Turn the fans against me, turn the media on me. That part of it I didn’t like.”

At a time when the Yankees were trying to convince Judge to come back, his now-publicly stated offense at the circumstances landed hard in the Yankees’ suite of club officials.

“I had that feeling that we were going to lose him,” said a Yankees official, one of some two dozen industry sources interviewed about Judge’s negotiations with both New York teams and with his other top suitors — the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres — and others around MLB.

In the end, Judge elected to return to the Yankees on a nine-year, $360 million deal that all but ensures he’ll finish his career with the team that drafted him. Soon, the contract will become official, and he’ll be reintroduced at a Yankee Stadium news conference.

And looking back, it would be easy to say that the rival executives who consistently predicted that Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner would never let one of the game’s most prominent superstars get away were right all along. But that’s not how it felt to those involved in the talks.

As it turned out, Judge’s stoic personality served as negotiating leverage. Judge was the poker player who stayed on point, never changed expression and rarely betrayed emotions — and in the end, he won big.

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Rodriguez makes history with another 20-20 year

Published

6 hours ago

August 4, 2025

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Rodriguez makes history with another 20-20 year

ESPN News Services

Aug 3, 2025, 07:04 PM ET

SEATTLE — Julio Rodriguez homered to become the first player in major league history with 20 or more home runs and 20 or more stolen bases in each of his first four seasons, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 5-4 on Sunday.

Rodriguez hit a two-run shot in the third inning — his 100th career homer — and the slugging and speedy center fielder also added his 21st stolen base of the season after singling in the fifth inning.

“That’s a very big accomplishment,” Rodríguez told reporters, according to MLB.com. “I know my family’s very happy, and I’m sure they’re thinking of all the things I had to do to be able to get here. To be able to do it with this team and this organization is awesome. I’m just excited to see where things are going to go from here.”

Jorge Polanco added a solo shot in the second, and shortstop J.P. Crawford smacked a two-run blast in the fourth against Rangers starter Jacob deGrom (10-4), who became the fastest pitcher in major league history to reach 1,800 career strikeouts by games and innings Sunday.

The Rangers kept things close by pushing across three runs against Mariners starter Logan Evans (5-4), but tallied only one run against the Mariners bullpen before closer Andrés Muñoz locked down his 25th save of the season.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Marlins def. Yankees, earn 1st-ever sweep of N.Y.

Published

11 hours ago

August 4, 2025

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Marlins def. Yankees, earn 1st-ever sweep of N.Y.

ESPN News Services

Aug 3, 2025, 04:55 PM ET

MIAMI — Kyle Stowers hit a three-run homer and the Miami Marlins defeated the New York Yankees 7-3 on Sunday, completing their first-ever sweep of the Yankees in a series of three or more games.

The Marlins (55-55) reached .500 for the first time since April 15, when the team was 8-8. Since June 13, the Marlins are 30-14; that’s tied with the 2003 team for the most wins in a 44-game span in franchise history, according to ESPN Research.

The 2003 Marlins went on to beat the Yankees in the World Series in six games.

Marlins starter Edward Cabrera (5-5) pitched six innings of two-hit ball with seven strikeouts and one walk. His only blemish came against the first batter he faced. Trent Grisham drove Cabrera’s 98.1 mph four-seam fastball to right-center.

Miami rookie Jakob Marsee, who made his major league debut on Friday, was 2-for-4 and finished a single short of the cycle.

Stowers made it 6-1 when he connected on an 0-2 fastball from Brent Headrick, who entered in the fourth with two on after starter Luis Gil (0-1) was lifted 3⅓ innings into his season debut.

Gil, the reigning AL Rookie of the Year, struck out three and surrendered five runs and five hits while issuing four walks in his return from a high-grade lat strain. He threw 77 pitches.

Gil’s shaky debut comes at a rough point in the season for the Yankees, whose inconsistency has prompted a rash of criticism, the latest coming from former Yankees stars Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez on Fox’s pregame show Saturday night.

“They make way too many mistakes,” Jeter said. “Way too many mistakes, and you can’t get away with making that number of mistakes against great teams.”

Added Rodriguez: “Where’s the accountability?”

Boone addressed those criticisms before Sunday’s game, saying it comes with the territory of being the Yankees, but he added after the loss that it’s “gut-check” time for his club.

New York’s weekend series at Miami included the Yankees blowing a six-run lead in a wild 13-12 loss on Friday, before a 2-0 loss on Saturday.

The Yankees had a seven-game lead in the AL East in late May. By July 2, the lead was gone and the Yankees have been looking up at Toronto in the division ever since. The red-hot Boston Red Sox, who were more than 10 games behind the Yankees about two months ago, have overtaken their rival for the second spot in the AL East and AL wild-card lead.

“It’s getting late,” Boone said. “And it’s certainly not too late for us. I am confident that we’re going to get it together. But that’s all it is right now is, you know, it’s empty until we start doing it.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.