Aaron Judge signed a nine-year, $360 million contract to stay with the New York Yankees after he was wooed by the likes of the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres. While Yankees fans feared the Giants as more of a threat to swipe The Judge away in free agency, the latest MLB rumors suggest that the Padres were the bigger adversary.
The Padres reportedly offered Judge a contract “in the range” of $415 million, with a guarantee that was nearly $100 million higher than the offer made by the Yankees, sources told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
Aaron Judge himself said that the Padres' offer “blew everyone else out of the water”, per Rosenthal.
It had been reported that the Padres were contemplating an offer in this range, but the fact that they actually offered it to Judge shows just how serious they were about the 2022 American League MVP, who broke the single-season league record for home runs.
Rosenthal adds that several members of the Padres brass who attended the meeting with Judge felt he was going to leave the Yankees.
Of course, things didn't play out that way, as Judge returned to the Bronx, thanks in part to a late push from Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner.
But if it wasn't clear by now, it should be absolutely paramount that Padres general manager AJ Preller, who pulled off a trade deadline heist last summer, is going to do literally whatever it takes to win.
Even though the Padres didn't land Judge, this aggressive approach should leave them among the MLB's elite when it comes to convincing top-tier free agents to relocate to San Diego.
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