Wednesday, October 26, 2022

The Giants claim they "won't be underbid" in their quest to sign Aaron Judge. But they face the great "underbidder" himself, Hal Steinbrenner

Posted by el duque at 11:58 AM

 Good for a laugh. 



The Yankees finishing runner-up once again?


22 comments:

ranger_lp said...

Letting Judge go might be a blessing in disguise...

October 26, 2022 at 12:12 PM
Publius said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
October 26, 2022 at 12:41 PM
Publius said...

If Cashman uses the freed up money wisely, maybe. But what are the chances of that?

October 26, 2022 at 12:43 PM
The Hammer of God said...

It's a complicated situation for analysis.

You have to look at it from three different points of view. There's the point of the fans; Aaron Judge; and the Yankees ball club.

Fans: As Hoss pointed out in a previous blog, I think the fans would love to have Aaron Judge back as a Yankee for the rest of his career. If he's not back, what will there be to watch next year? And, to be perfectly frank (and selfish), we fans don't care about anything else except our own entertainment.

Judge: If he wants to win, he should go somewhere else. Because it's quite obvious that this franchise won't win another championship for the next quarter century or more. If he wants to stay a Yankee for life, then he'll play the other suiters, get the Yankees to max out their offer, then ink with the Yankees. If personal goals and possible Hall of Fame status is his thing, he should think about leaving. Because the sportwriters have an extreme anti-Yankee bias, and the Yankee management is going to continue to mis-use Judge with stupid gimmicks, like leading him off.

Yankees: From the Yankee point of view, there are two divergent scenarios. (1) Reality and (2) Cashman's Fantasy World. Let's look at each in turn.

If they want to face reality, the window for the Yankees to win a championship with this group has closed. When they got Cole, we knew that they'd have to win within a few years or else. Well, it's already been a few years now, and Cole has already started his degeneration. Most of the team is old now. Judge probably had a career year and most probably won't repeat anything like this year again. If you consider most players in their walk year, they frequently have career years and then follow that up with injuries and underperformance in the first year of their big new contract. No reason to expect anything different with Judge. So the Yankees badly need re-building and this would be another opportunity to start, by letting Judge leave.

Cashman's Fantasy World: Reality is not Yankee management's strong suit. That we all know for sure. At least as far as baseball decisions go. This is a franchise that has lost its way. However, reality and Cashman can actually intersect this winter, as far as the Judge contract situation is concerned. HAL only cares about finances, that we know also. It's really hard to see the Yankees re-signing Judge to anything more than an 8 year 360 million deal. That would be 45 mill per year. If San Fran offers 10 years, 500 mill, I don't see the Yankees matching that. And letting Judge go would not be the worst thing for a ball club that is completely buried in millstone contracts for aging, underperforming ex-stars. The only problem for management would be how they get the fan base to accept letting Judge go without matching San Fran's offer. There will be a terrible P.R. crisis. Add to that the simple truth that Cashman & Co. have no idea how to re-build a winner. (I'm sure he'll sign
a worthless free agent or two, and he brought in CF Harrison Bader just for this eventuality.) Either way, whether Judge stays or goes, as El Duque wrote in his previous thread, this franchise is screwed big time.

October 26, 2022 at 12:44 PM
Celerino Sanchez said...

If Judge was 27/28 I'd say sign him to whatever it takes, but he's going to be 31. His frame is not conducive to longevity. So in 3-4 years, he'll be a $40m DH. Not to mention he is a lifetime .211 hitter in the post season over a pretty substantial sample size. Now that being said, these morons won't use that perceived contract to sign other guys, so we are fucked either way.

October 26, 2022 at 1:01 PM
The Hammer of God said...

Letting Judge go might actually spark Yankee management to get their baseball decisions right. Instead of everything being dictated by finance, they may be forced to try to win to get fans back in the seats. That's one way to look at it.

October 26, 2022 at 1:06 PM
ranger_lp said...

Since Boone and Cashman are coming back, according to reports, the Judge decision will domino into other decisions. If they bring Judge back, it's going to be the status quo with one or two FAs added. If they don't bring back Judge, they may actually decide to go younger finally as these injuries did bring down the Yanks...as Hammer said, this is the end of the cycle and it's time to move on...they are not going to get better unless they get higher draft choices and to do that, they will have to give up a season or two...

October 26, 2022 at 1:12 PM
The Hammer of God said...

@Celerino Sanchez, HAL might go hard core Ebeneezer Scrooge route to save money. Or he might order Cashman to take on new millstone contracts with other aging vets to replace the big salaries that are leaving. Or HAL will order Cashman to hire some intelligent consultants and try to get their act together, in an effort to get fans back in the seats. It will be interesting to see which way HAL decides to go.

October 26, 2022 at 1:15 PM
JM said...

My takeaway, then, is that anything can happen but given the track record of Cashman and Halle Berry, it will be something middling to terrible.

If the NY Giants get to the Super Bowl, I may not care. Or I may.

So many possibilities.

October 26, 2022 at 1:45 PM
BTR999 said...

Upon reflection it’s more likely than not that the team re-signs Judge. A little creativity may be required, such as a player opt out clause or performance incentives. Personally, I am OK with him leaving due to his age, injury history, and most of all his poor performance in the post season as well pointed out by Celerino. All I care about is winning the WS; the 62 homer season was fun to watch, but so are Seinfeld reruns. If Judge is not a difference maker in the post, we don’t need him since the watered down playoffs are an easy low bar to clear. The issue is that Cashman and Boone (yes, both will be back, so get your howls of outrage ready) may not use Judge’s proposed departure as a jumping off point to reset the franchise. That would take about 3 seasons to create a true contender, but it would be worth it. Otherwise, just laugh along with Jerry and the gang…

October 26, 2022 at 2:05 PM
The Hammer of God said...

My best guess is that they will sign a couple of old guys whose best days are long gone but who will command big salaries due to great past performance. Perhaps Cashman will even make a trade for such players. They will tout these guys as the answer, to reduce the P.R. damage from Judge running away to San Fran. They will make the playoffs, barely. They will get knocked out in the first round. That's been their modus operandi for a long time now. Cashman is amazingly good at keeping HAL happy by filling seats, making playoffs, getting booted out in 1 or 2 rounds, making money but not winning.

Who might they acquire? Just look at rosters for players who used to be good, but haven't been good for at least a few years, who make a ton of money, and are now 36-37 years old. These guys are easy to acquire, because no one wants them. Cashman will also be on the lookout for the next Gallows: a young guy who hits a lot of homers but strikes out at least 45% of the time. When that guy comes here, he'll strike out 60% of the time, due to the good work of our hitting coach and analytics staff.

October 26, 2022 at 2:06 PM
ranger_lp said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
October 26, 2022 at 2:13 PM
ranger_lp said...

Interesting article from WFAN...

By Ryan Chichester
WFAN Sports Radio 101.9 FM/66AM New York
2 hours ago

As the Yankees get set to embark on a critical offseason that will be headlined by the free agency of Aaron Judge, the team could be dealing with an unexpected obstacle that could keep players from wanting to return, or arrive via free agency: the fan culture.

According to SNY’s Andy Martino, multiple Yankee players were taken aback by the “unusually brutal experience” at Yankee Stadium during the postseason, particularly games three and four of the ALCS, when the Astros completed a sweep of New York to eliminate them from the postseason for the fourth time since 2015.

Per Martino, Aaron Judge hearing boos after a record-setting home run season and Josh Donaldson hearing even more boos in a brutal postseason showing did not sit well with some members of the team.

“More than one Yankee player has told his agent this week that playing at the Stadium last weekend was an unusually brutal experience,” Martino reported. “It was hard for many teammates to believe that fans booed Judge. Even a difficult person and underperformer like Josh Donaldson was turned into a somewhat sympathetic figure internally by the force of the jeering.”

Martino also added that members in the organization were surprised by the reaction at the games and after the team was eliminated, with one “longtime executive” saying, “I get that it’s World Series or bust, but damn they’re spoiled.”

Of course, if Judge himself is one of the players feeling this way and had such a negative reaction to hearing boos during a postseason in which he slumped badly, then it could mean the end of his Yankee tenure. Whether the atmosphere in the Bronx last week impacts the free agent market for Brian Cashman and company remains to be seen.

-------------------------

Wow what snowflakes these Yanks are...

October 26, 2022 at 2:15 PM
The Hammer of God said...

It was classless of those Yankee fans to boo Judge. It was even classless to boo Donald Duck. These guys were still trying their best. It was just that they got stymied by ASS-stro pitching. Not surprising, not unexpected. They couldn't hit ASS-stro pitching during the regular season. The guys who've been here for awhile haven't hit ASS-stros pitching for years. What would make anyone think that they'd do it in a playoff series now?

October 26, 2022 at 2:26 PM
AboveAverage said...

One scenario that might make sense given the Yankees history would be to let Judge sign elsewhere, then five or six years down the road, have Cashman trade for him to play out the last two or three years of his contract back in New York under the tutelage of Old-Man Boone.

:)

October 26, 2022 at 3:09 PM
BTR999 said...

According to MiLB transactions tracker, 5 NYY minor leaguers with the requisite service time have elected for free agency. Those players are pitchers Anthony Banda, Luke Bard, Jacob Barnes and Chi Chi González, plus infielder Ronald Guzmán.

Can't blame them, but they are all easily replaceable, especially Guzman who in his cameo here loafed while running out a ground ball. We have enough of those already.

October 26, 2022 at 4:32 PM
HoraceClarke66 said...

Right. It's the Yankees FANS who are spoiled. Not the guys objecting to being booed when they stink in the biggest games of the year, despite being paid tens of millions of dollars.

"I'll retire to bedlam."

October 26, 2022 at 6:15 PM
ranger_lp said...

We haven't won a WS since 2009 and we're spoiled...FFS...

October 26, 2022 at 6:27 PM
Scottish Yankee fan said...




Serious question for the very knowledgeable posters on here if you could be so kind to answer

Imagine you are made GM of the Yankees.

You are allowed more or less the same total salary that the team has now no lavish spending

What moves would you make to improve the team and that can be reasonably done in real life no silly trades or dumping of bad contracts genuine trades that could be made with a reasonable over or under paying

I would be really interested to know if you could take some time out of I know your busy schdules to answer

October 26, 2022 at 9:36 PM
edb said...

Goodbye Judge. The Genius blew it during his negotiations with the big guy. Yet we have to hear what a great executive Genius Cashman is.

October 27, 2022 at 2:44 AM
The Hammer of God said...

@Scottish Yankee fan, Well, for one, they should move Stanton. Now that he had a halfway decent year, they might be able to get something for him. Hey, if you can move Gallows and get a bum in exchange, I'm sure you can move Stanton for a couple of pitching prospects, maybe more. And if you have to eat some salary, you still do it because it's addition by subtraction.

They should trade Gleyber Torres. Boone jokingly says that Torres sometimes thinks that he's invisible on the bases. If that's not an indictment of atrocious base running, I don't know what is. Torres, while dancing off third base in the regular season a few months ago, even sprained his ankle and collapsed and got tagged out. Something I'd never seen before. Imagine if that had happened in the postseason? This guy is clearly uncoachable and needs to go.

More so than any trades, they need to bring in competent hitting and pitching coaches. What we saw in the playoffs was that this team has zero fundamentals. Their pitchers don't know how to get out good hitters. And their hitters don't know the basics of hitting strategy and that's why they can't even touch 40 year old guys like Justin Verlander.

October 27, 2022 at 9:09 AM
DickAllen said...


The real solution to this problem is to create a playoff system based on total attendance each year. That way, the Yankees would be in along with LA, STL, and ATL (based on this seasons ticket sales). They would all get byes on account of reaching 3MM subscribers, uh, tickets.

The second tier (SD, NYM, HST, TTO COL, BOS, CHC and SF) would have a play-in series to meet the Rich and Successful Teams (hard to believe COL and CHC were at the top of the attendance food chain)

This would induce fans to show up, thereby enriching all the owners.

The last part is for the players. They would get a salary based on WAR (or some other meaningful stat) and incentives for winning batting title, Cy, etc., and the weighted salary would be on a year-to-year basis. No more Stantonian Blasts. It would eliminate free agency altogether and create incentives for better play.

There would be some details to work out, but it's a can't-miss, foolproof way to show exactly what matters most in baseball today.

October 27, 2022 at 12:26 PM

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