SI:AM | Aaron Judge Stays Put

Plus, the surprising new trend in the NBA.

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Obviously I knew all along that Aaron Judge would stay with the Yankees.

In today’s SI:AM:

🌟 The Yankees keep their star

⚾ More from the MLB winter meetings, including a former MVP signing

🏀 The NBA’s “dirty middle secret”

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He’s back

Aaron Judge isn’t going anywhere. According to multiple reports, the American League home run king will re-sign with the Yankees on a nine-year contract worth $360 million.

For a few minutes yesterday evening, it seemed like Judge was headed out of town when Jon Heyman of the New York Post tweeted, “Arson Judge appears headed to Giants.” Heyman deleted the tweet, posted a new version without the typo and eventually deleted that one as well, apologizing for “jumping the gun.”

But this morning’s news paves the way for Judge to play out the rest of his career in pinstripes, saving the Yankees from an on-field and public relations nightmare. Losing him after the historic season he just had would have been devastating for Yankees fans and for a lineup built around him. It seemed plausible that he could leave. Judge was named Time magazine’s Athlete of the Year yesterday and in the accompanying article said he was “upset” that the Yankees decided to publicize details of their contract extension offer to him before the season.

“We kind of said, Hey, let’s keep this between us,” Judge told Time’s Sean Gregory. “I was a little upset that the numbers came out. I understand it’s a negotiation tactic. Put pressure on me. Turn the fans against me; turn the media on me. That part of it I didn’t like.”

The Yankees’ final offer before the start of the season was $213.5 million over seven years. By turning it down and having a truly absurd season in which he not only broke Roger Maris’s AL home run record but did it while playing center field at 6'7", 280 pounds, Judge was able to start a bidding war that made him an additional $146.5 million.

After attending Monday Night Football in Tampa, Judge flew to San Diego to be at the winter meetings in person. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, he arrived with his list whittled down to three teams: the Yankees, Giants and Padres. Heyman reports San Francisco’s offer was around $360 million, while the Yankees were offering $300 million. New York subsequently upped its offer and Judge picked the Yankees, Passan adds. (NJ.com’s Brendan Kuty reports the Padres actually offered Judge more than $360 million.)

Judge’s on-field impacts are obvious enough, but he’s also an important leader behind the scenes for the Yankees. Now that he’s staying in New York, it’s highly probable he’ll be named the 16th captain in franchise history.

It’s fair to wonder how a guy as big as Judge will hold up over the final years of that contract. He turns 31 in April and will be 39 when the deal expires in 2032. But the short-term pain of losing Judge to the Giants would have outweighed the potential that he’s significantly diminished nearly a decade from now. The Yankees have been pinching pennies in recent years, eschewing George Steinbrenner’s make-it-rain ownership style in favor of carefully watching the luxury tax. It’s refreshing (at least to me, as a Yankees fan) to see them go out and spend $40 million a year on a player. Last year’s playoff exit showed the team has other concerns that will need to be addressed this offseason. But those are issues for another day. For now, the Yankees can breathe a sigh of relief knowing they kept their most important player from getting away.

The best of Sports Illustrated

Photo Illustration by Dan Larkin; Steve Russell/Toronto Star/Getty Images

In today’s Daily Cover, Howard Beck looks at the surprising new trend in the NBA: a logjam in the middle of the standings:

Out West, the star-studded Lakers are 10–13, 13th in their conference, and yet only five-and-a-half games out of first place. Just three games separate the top-ranked Suns (16–8) from the eighth-place Jazz (14–12). Out East, the Celtics (20–5) and Bucks (17–6) seem to be in a class of their own. But just four-and-a-half games separate the third-place Cavaliers (16–9) from the ninth-place Knicks (11–13).

Or consider this: As of last Friday, with the season at the approximate quarter pole, 17 of the league’s 30 teams were within three games of .500—i.e., either three games above or three games below. That’s the most in NBA history through a quarter of the season, per league officials, who provided the data at

Sports Illustrated

’s request.

• Tom Verducci has some non–Aaron Judge notes from Day 2 of the winter meetings. And, we’re tracking all the MLB free-agent moves here.
• Ross Dellenger has ranked all 41 FBS bowl games by watchability.
• After another 30-point night from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chris Herring sees the Thunder’s long rebuild beginning to come into focus.
• Kevin Sweeney wrote about an under-the-radar college basketball player: Saint Louis’s assist machine Yuri Collins.
• Baker Mayfield was claimed by the Rams and reportedly could play tomorrow night.
• Allyson Felix is this year’s SI Muhammad Ali Legacy Award winner for her advocacy for athlete mothers.
• Here are the odds and matchups for SI Sportsbook’s Perfect 10 contest in Week 14 of the NFL season.

The top five...

… things I saw yesterday:

5. The latest edition of “Shaqtin’ a Fool.”

4. The thrilling conclusion to the Nuggets-Mavericks game.

3. Jack Hughes’s stick handling to set up a goal for the Devils.

2. This total breakdown by the camera operator at the Southern Illinois–Edwardsville vs. Bradley game.

1. Gonçalo Ramos’s hat trick in Portugal’s 6–1 thrashing of Switzerland.

SIQ

On this day in 1937, the Red Sox acquired Ted Williams from which minor league club?

• Minneapolis Millers
• St. Paul Saints
• Sacramento Solons
• San Diego Padres

Yesterday’s SIQ: Which active NBA player has the best career three-point percentage?

• Stephen Curry
• Seth Curry
• Desmond Bane
• Joe Harris

Answer: Seth Curry. So that’s one thing Steph’s younger brother can hold over his head. Seth has made 43.9% of his threes, compared to 42.8% for Steph.

Steph ranks 11th on the career three-point percentage leaderboard. No. 1 on that list is his coach, Steve Kerr, whose 45.4% conversion rate is more than a full percentage point better than Hubert Davis in second place (44.1%). Seth Curry ranks third, followed by Dražen Petrović, Desmond Bane, Joe Harris, Jason Kapono, Tim Legler, Steve Novak, Kyle Korver and finally Stephen Curry (who’s tied with Steve Nash and Luke Kennard).

What makes Steph’s shooting so remarkable, though, is the volume of three-pointers he has attempted while making them at such an astonishing rate. Of the top 13 players on the career three-point percentage list, only Curry, Korver (2,450) and Nash (1,685) have made more than 920 threes. Curry has made more than four times as many threes as his brother, Seth, and Kerr. James Harden, who is second among active NBA players in career threes made, has made only 36.1% of his attempts. That’s worse than Al Horford. Curry combines volume and efficiency in a way that we’re fortunate to be able to watch.

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