After the Yankees were eliminated in the ALDS by a division rival for the second straight season, Aaron Judge delivered a message to Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman.
“We’re the Yankees. I feel like they should go all in and do what they need to do,” Judge, who did not play in the playoffs due to a calf strain, said after the Yankees’ 4-3 Game 3 loss to the Rays in The Bronx Wednesday night. “If we’ve got holes, if it’s finding certain players or personnel, whatever we need, you got to go out there and get it. That’s why I signed back here to play with the Yankees is to fight for a championship every single year and to go all in. That’s what I do every offseason is get ready to give this team and this city everything I’ve got, so I expect them to do the same.”
Judge, the three-time MVP who turns 35 in April, has five years left on the nine-year, $360 million contract he signed after testing free agency following his historic 62-homer season in 2022.
Asked if he feels the front office has gone all in enough, Judge turned more diplomatic.
“It’s tough to say,” Judge said. “I want to trade for everybody, sign everybody every single year, but I know that’s not realistic. They give us a winning team every single year, but that’s not good enough here in New York. We’re the Yankees. You’ve got to go out there and expect championships and go all in every year. So I’m excited to see what they do.”
The likelihood of a work stoppage, with the players and owners locked in bitter CBA negotiations, looms over MLB’s offseason, but the Yankees have major questions on some free agents and others.
Jazz Chisholm Jr., David Bednar, Trent Grisham, Paul Goldschmidt and Paul Blackburn are among the Yankees players whose contracts are up.
The Yankees will also have to decide if they’ll stomach one final year of Giancarlo Stanton, where Anthony Volpe, Spencer Jones and Jasson Dominguez fit in, and whether to move on from third baseman Ryan McMahon.
