Winter Meetings Wednesday Morning: The Padres Made a HUGE Offer for Judge, How Will Giants Pivot? Mets Not Out on Senga, More

Would the Yankees still be *THE YANKEES* if they let themselves get out-bid on Aaron Judge … the homegrown slugger who just broke the home run record set by Roger Maris, who broke the home run record set by Babe Ruth? Nah. This is the way the world is supposed to be, and I think that’s weirdly comforting.

  • But for what it’s worth, Judge did have options. The Giants reportedly had the same 9 year, $360 million deal on the table, and Ken Rosenthal and Bob Nightengale combine to reveal that the Padres made a late-push to sign Judge … a shockingly strong one, if Nightengale is correct:
  • $400 MILLION. Over ten years. That would have been a record contract and a huge splash from the Padres. I’m not saying I’m surprised Judge turned it down, the Padres came in way too late on what seemed like a two-horse race between Judge’s hometown Giants and the team that drafted him, but still. The Padres have now missed out on Trea Turner and Aaron Judge and that makes me very nervous about what they’ll do next for someone like Carlos Correa, Xander Bogaerts, or Dansby Swanson. The only good news is that they were initially said to be in on ONLY Turner when it came to the shortstops, but it’s not like we expected them to be in on Judge, so … heads up. AJ Preller is a mad man.
  • Oh, and here you go:
  • The bad news is that they’re involved in the shortstop market. The good news is that the latest Cubs-smoke has been attached to Carlos Correa and Dansby Swanson. And since Correa is likely to earn something close to $300 million, perhaps the Padres won’t be quite their competition for at least him. The Giants, however, are expected to turn to the remaining free agent shortstop shortstop class. Maybe they first try to get Brandon Nimmo, though? The best remaining free agent outfielder. We can only hope.
  • It looks like Aaron Judge is going to be the next Yankees captain. Well-earned. In the meantime, the Yankees may not be done yet (though I would comfortable count them out on the shortstops).
  • One-time Cubs target Kenley Jansen signed with the Red Sox and former Cubs pitcher Jose Quintana signed with the Mets. Even after adding Justin Verlander and Quintana, who shares an agent with Kodai Senga, the New York Mets are still in on Kodai Senga, the top pitching target for the Chicago Cubs. So no relief there.
  • With that said, this is insane: Every dollar the Mets spend from here costs then $1.90. Sign a $10M deal? That’s actually a $19M deal. I get that Cohen’s pockets are deep, but are they really 1.9x as deep as any other team is willing to go? Seems wild to me.
  • A little hope:
  • I’m going to cut this post off here. There is SO MUCH more coming today. Stay tuned.
  • written by

    Michael Cerami began covering the Chicago Cubs for Bleacher Nation as a part-time contributor in 2015. One year later, he joined Bleacher Nation full-time, covering the Chicago Cubs and Major League Baseball. Today, Michael runs Bleacher Nation, contributing as a writer (Cubs, MLB) and an editor for all sections of the site, including the Chicago Bears, Bulls, and Blackhawks, as well as MLB, NBA, NHL, and NFL. In 2019, Michael was the co-host of NBC Sports Chicago's Cubs Post-Game Show Outside the Ivy. You can find him on Twitter/X @Michael_Cerami

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