Hal signs off on a dumb deal
In the wee hours of Wednesday morning a beleaguered and resigned Hal Steinbrenner firmly cemented his membership in baseball’s One Dumb Owner club by re-signing soon-to-be 31-year-old Aaron Judge for an astounding nine years and $360 million.
Or $146.5 million more than the sevenyear, $213.5 million the Yankees offered Judge last March, which he flatly rejected.
Until December
2019 when the Yankees lavished a record nineyear, $324 million contract on Gerrit
Cole, a No. 1 starting pitcher they absolutely had to have, Young Hal had taken pains to act prudently when it came to the free agent market. He took a pass on both Bryce Harper and Manny Machado in 2019 when he saw those contract negotiations heading north of $300 million — and going all the way back to 2013 when the Yankees refused to budge from seven years and
$175 million for their own Robinson Cano and let him walk to the Mariners for a 10-year, $240 million contract.
At the time, they made a point that Cano, whose career was seemingly headed for the Hall of Fame, had rejected the opportunity of being a Yankee for life, with all the subsidiary marketing and promotional opportunities in New York, plus likely becoming the first Dominican Yankee captain, to opt for more initial money and baseball oblivion in Seattle. In retrospect, it was the worst mistake of his life. Which is why this was essentially the same pitch they were making to Judge once it became evident of the Giants’ serious intent to lure him back to his northern California roots.
Hal Steinbrenner had to go an extra year to get the Aaron Judge contract done.
Hal Steinbrenner had to go an extra year to get the Aaron Judge contract done. (John Raoux/ap)
But as we now have learned, with Judge this was never about being a Yankee for life, a plaque in Monument Park with all the Yankee immortals, or the captaincy in the grand tradition of Lou Gehrig, Thurman Munson and Derek Jeter. As the late football Giants’ GM George Young so often reminded us, it’s always about the money. And give Judge credit, he bet on himself last March, having no idea how much more money was going to be out there above and beyond the $213.5 million he turned down, then went out and had a season for the ages, batting .311 with a league-leading 131 RBI and breaking Roger Maris’ 61-year-old American League home run record with 62 — only to discover there was a HELLUVA LOT more money out there. Word was, at the last minute Tuesday night, the San Diego Padres plunged head first into the Judge bidding with an offer of 10 years and $400 million.
Welcome to the season of insanity. The minute he signed off on the nine-year, $360 million deal, Steinbrenner knew this was going to go down as the dumbest contract he had ever done.