NEWSLETTER
I don’t anticipate having a nightly update on the Aaron Judge free agent market, but what can I say? Judge’s free agency is extremely important for the market, and also just really interesting to me. I still have trouble pegging just how large of a deal he SHOULD get.
Anyway, tonight’s update comes from NJ.com, which has a source that is going extremely bold on the San Francisco Giants for Judge:
The Giants have targeted Judge and are prepared to spend whatever it takes, a person with knowledge of the Giants’ thinking told NJ Advance Media after meeting with members of the franchise’s ownership group. The person, who isn’t authorized to speak on behalf of the team, was granted anonymity.
“Judge is at the top of the Giants list and they won’t be underbid,” the person said. “If they miss out, it won’t be because of money.”
As always, the first caveat you have to note: it is working extremely in Judge’s favor for this kind of report to emerge and be believed by the Yankees, who are also expected to be very aggressive in trying to retain Judge. So if, say, Judge’s agent had an inkling that the Giants wanted to spend a whole lot on Judge, well, it would be in that camp’s best interest to be as bold as possible with that proclamation. I’m not saying Judge’s agent is definitely the source here – I’m just saying it certainly works for them.
Then again, the source went on to say that the Giants’ plan to land Judge goes beyond being the top bidder for the soon-to-be MVP. The Giants, the source told NJ.com, plan to also sign AT LEAST two “high-priced free agents” thanks to their loads and loads of available cash.
Sure enough, if I’m Judge, I’d want to get my massive contract, yes, but I’d like to get it from a club that is going to show me it can win from day one. If that means a team like the Giants signing multiple impact pieces in free agency, I suppose that might do the trick.
Which takes me to the other point about this report: if it’s accurate, then I guess we need to be on the lookout for the Giants in a number of other free agent markets. Right now, the Giants have a bit over $100 million in payroll guaranteed for 2023, with another $30 or so million coming in arbitration. So if the Giants are willing to immediately push up against the luxury tax, they could have $100 million to spend in 2023 payroll – plennnnnty of room to add Judge and much more. (What it would mean for future seasons would be the bigger question, I suppose.)
That makes at least three teams that we’ve heard about getting real spendy this offseason – the Giants, the Rangers, and the Mets – and it’s not hard to start rattling off other clubs that should have a lot to work with, especially now that the CBA is settled. Since we hope the Cubs, too, will be aggressive, this all bears watching.
Last night’s rumor, by the way, was about the Dodgers being a serious player for Judge, which you can now read cynically as having been about the Dodgers wanting to push the Giants, or the Giants wanting to push the Dodgers, or some other kind of misinformation and subterfuge. Ahhh, I love this time of year.
