The New York Yankees kept Aaron Judge out of the clutches of the San Francisco Giants by signing him to a nine-year, $360 million contract extension during MLB free agency. After naming Judge the organization's 16th-ever captain on Wednesday, Hal Steinbrenner revealed his eye-opening message to Judge during the offseason. Via Mark Feinsand of the MLB Network, Steinbrenner said he made it his personal mission to bring Judge back to the Bronx.

Via Feinsand on Twitter:

“Hal Steinbrenner told Judge a few weeks ago: ‘As far as I’m concerned, you are not a free agent… you are a Yankee.'”

It's certainly a bold stance to take from Steinbrenner, but in the end, it paid off. The Yankees got their guy and effectively put him in pinstripes for the remainder of his career. Judge will be approaching 40 by the time his contract expires, and he's due to make an AAV of $40 million over the course of the nine-year contract.

Despite the strong push from the Giants, Steinbrenner and the Yankees were able to bring Judge back on the new mega-deal. While it was certainly a close call, featuring an errant report from Jon Heyman which had the MLB world scrambling, Steinbrenner's confident approach in the Aaron Judge sweepstakes clearly paid off for the organization.

Of course, had Brian Cashman and Co. just given Judge the contract he was seeking ahead of his historic 2022 campaign, the Yankees wouldn't have been in this situation to begin with. Still, at the end of the day, Judge is headed back to the Bronx, and Steinbrenner certainly played his part in keeping the big superstar in the Big Apple.