Aaron Judge is a smart guy. It feels, it shows. The very recent MVP of the American League does not yet know what number he will wear and especially what uniform he will wear for the next few years to come.
One thing is certain, he knows in advance that his next big decision will be the most important turning point in his career. And a career, when it comes time to put away the cleats, is always more beautiful when it is garnished with the most coveted trophy in MLB.
Money yes, but…
The New York Yankees and their fans would dream of seeing Aaron Judge give in to advances made by New York executives in an effort to bring him back to the Bronx. The kind of leads the Yankees like to make are with more zeros than anyone else down a check. How much more difference does $40 or even $50 million a year make than $20 or $30 million a year? I cannot tell you.
All I know is that it doesn’t fill a showcase of personal or team trophies any more. Surely the Yankees know this too, but I like to believe that they keep making the same mistakes over and over again and nothing is ready to change. Living in New York is cool, playing at Yankee Stadium is probably extraordinary (you can hit a lot of HR in the right without even forcing), the fans are intense, we often go to the TV, we often win more than 100 games per season, we are constantly on the front of the stage. The dream life, what. But very often, the “grand finale” is watched on television.
Yankees fans may believe it year after year: when the time comes to play the most important baseball of the year, the team melts like ice in the sun and I, on my side, do not see why that would change. . I don’t see why keeping Aaron Judge and overpaying him for the next seven or eight years would change anything in the way the Yankees think about baseball and play baseball. Paying Judge is a bit like paying Robinson Cano when he was at his prime: we empty the boxes, but we don’t fill the trophy room.
Aaron Judge knows all that. And that’s why, I think, he won’t hesitate for a second to break the hearts of New Yorkers when he has to choose his final destination.
San Fran discreet, but…
The San Francisco Giants have often been cited as a potential destination for Aaron Judge. When we talk about this team, we don’t necessarily want to believe it. We sketch a slight smile and we say to ourselves “Pffff, Aaron Judge will never go there. What’s the point! ». But for those with a short memory, the Giants won three World Series titles between 2010 and… 2014. And all that, with a completely different baseball than the one proposed and thought out by the Yankees.
What the Giants do, the Yankees don’t. What we did the Giants worked, what the Yankees did never worked.
When the Giants won in 2012, they finished the season with the league’s lowest home run total (103) … The Yankees were leading with 245, but that didn’t stop them from getting a bad sweep by the Tigers in ALCSthe Tigers that will sweep the Giants just a turn later in the final.
This is one example among many others, an example that proves that we win as a team, not on an individuality.
Even though the Giants have had cash in the bank, they will offer less than the Yankees. Even if the Giants have a less glorious past than the Yankees (27 titles in NY against eight for SF), the chances of seeing the Giants win the World Series before the Yankees are stronger. Just a feelingbut that’s how I feel.
Living in SF is cool too. To have been there several times, it is perhaps even better than in NY.
If it’s between the two cities and if Aaron Judge looks beyond the number of zeros that will appear at the bottom of his check, he knows in advance that it is with the Giants that he will have the best chance of winning. a World Series Championship title. Time is running out, he only has ten years left to play.
What choice will he make?
