MONEY PLAYER
Award in hand Judge's attention turns free agency
Aaron Judge has something else to put on his free-agent résumé: American League MVP. Where he takes it remains to be seen. After making history this past season by breaking Roger Maris’ 61-year-old AL home run record with 62 homers, Judge captured his first MVP award, which was announced Thursday night.
He beat out last year’s MVP, Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, who finished second despite another strong season both at the plate and on the mound.
Ohtani’s two-way excellence was no match for Judge this time around, as Judge received 28 of 30 first-place votes.
Judge indicated the process is in the early stages, but that he would like to come to an agreement with a team sometime in the relatively near future.
“I’m looking forward to getting the free-agent process going,’’ Judge said on a conference call following the announcement of the award. “A lot of stuff doesn’t kick in until the winter meetings in December.”
The winter meetings will be held from Dec. 5-7 in San Diego and Judge acknowledged — as have Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner and general manager Brian Cashman — that Judge’s contract will determine much of the rest of the offseason for whatever team winds up signing him.
“As for the process, I don’t know how fast or slow it’s gonna go,’’ Judge said. “The teams I talk to, if we build a winning team and get talked to. If we build a winning team and get my stuff out of the way, it’s always an advantage. Once I get into it, it might move fast or slow. You never really know.”
Steinbrenner said this week he met face-to-face with Judge and has had several conversations with the slugger in hopes of keeping him in The Bronx.
Like Steinbrenner, Judge said the talks have been “positive” and Judge said it was a “good sign” the owner reached out to him.
But he remains interested in what other teams have to say, with his hometown Giants and big-market Dodgers other potential landing spots.
Asked what was most important to him during negotiations, Judge said, “For me, I want to win.”
“I’ve come pretty close with the Yankees,’’ Judge said. “We’ve been one game away from the World Series and kicked out of the wild card. … The most important thing is a winning culture and being with a team that’s committed to winning, not only for they remainder of my playing career, but I want the legacy to live on with the organization.”
He made even more of a mark with the Yankees this season.
Judge led the majors in a number of offensive categories, in addition to home runs.
Judge also paced the majors with 133 runs scored and 131 RBIs, an on-base percentage of .425, slugging percentage of .686, an OPS of 1.111 and an OPS-plus of 211.
And until the final few days of the regular season, Judge was in the running to become the first Triple Crown winner since Miguel Cabrera did it in 2012 with the Tigers.
It added up to a season for the ages for the 30-year-old, who is a free agent for the first time in his career after betting on himself by turning down the Yankees’ seven-year, $213.5 million extension on Opening Day and then putting the Yankees’ offense on his back.
Not surprisingly, the Yankees’ decision-makers have all said they want Judge back, but Cashman also noted this month that Judge had “put himself in a great position to have a lot of choices.”
Certainly, Judge didn’t need an MVP award to prove his excellence to other teams, but it won’t hurt as he hits the open market.
Judge was in the running for the 2017 AL MVP award, but finished second to Houston’s Jose Altuve — an outcome that has since come under greater scrutiny following the revelation of the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal during the championship season.
The following spring, Judge said, “I really don’t want to get into the whole, ‘If Altuve stole the MVP or not,’ [because] that really doesn’t matter. It’s over with. The biggest thing is, I’ve got to make sure next time I don’t keep the votes so close, I guess. Try to go out there and win it outright, so there’s no question.”
In 2022, Judge did just that.
dan.martin