Aaron Judge was not thrilled with how the offseason started for his New York Yankees, then had to sit idly by for nearly three months while a notable move failed to materialize.
It finally came in January when the club reunited with outfielder Cody Bellinger, but the $200 million the Yankees spent this winter all came on internal free agents — Trent Grisham and Paul Goldschmidt, the notable others.
“It was brutal,” Judge said. “I see a lot of free agents out there, I see a lot of guys like the Bellingers, the Grishams, the Goldschmidts. Let’s sign these guys right now and then start adding more pieces. I’m seeing other teams around the league getting better. They’re making trades, they’re signing big prospects or big players, and we kind of were sitting there for a while, kind of making smaller moves.”
Judge even admitted that he went to general manager Brian Cashman and the Yankees’ front office to make those feelings known, adding that they “took care of business.”
This sort of business is not what the “Yankee way” had been for so long. After whiffing on Juan Soto last winter, the inactive start to the winter — which only featured Grisham accepting a $22 million qualifying offer — was coupled with owner Hal Steinbrenner saying he would like to spend less money on payroll.
It was not until Jan. 21 that Bellinger was brought back on a five-year, $162.5 million deal.
“Early on, it was pretty tough to watch,” Judge said. “I’m like, ‘Man, we’re the New York Yankees, let’s go out there and get the right people, get the right pieces to go out there and finish this thing off.’ We got a special group of players here, we got a good core, good young core. So it was frustrating, but I think we’re right where we need to be.”
In reality, the Yankees have brought back what was the American League’s best offense from 2025, and Judge is at the middle of it all, coming off two straight MVPs. But it is not the easiest sell that Cashman brought back 24 of the 26 players featured on the team’s ALDS roster, where they were taken care of with relative ease by the Toronto Blue Jays.
The belief is that a rotation that will eventually feature a healthy Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon alongside Max Fried and Cam Schlittler will be one of the best in baseball, as well.
“I love it. People might have their opinions on it because we didn’t win it all last year, we fell short in the division series,” Judge said. “But we get a chance to bring a lot of those guys back, they’re impact players. You bring back a guy ike Cody Bellinger, who can play all over the diamond, he can hit in the middle of the order for you, he can come up with a big base hit when he needs to. You bring back Paul Goldschmidt, who’s been an MVP… he elevates, especially the younger group we have, especially in the infield… he’s been there and done it. I’m excited…
“Then you get to add Cole down the road a little bit with some other guys. I like our chances.”
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