With Aaron Judge Available, Giants Boast Spending Capabilities

Judge, a California native, grew up a Giants fan. Could San Francisco pry the slugger away from the Yankees in free agency?

The Giants say their budget can match their name. Does that mean they could also land a player whose hulking stature lives up to the moniker?

San Francisco has been a popular prediction for Aaron Judge should the 6-foot-7, 282-pound slugger leave the Yankees this offseason. The 30-year-old outfielder is coming off a historic campaign in which he hit 62 home runs while adding 131 RBI and a .311/.425/.686 slash line. That performance has already netted Judge the American League’s Hank Aaron Award, and an MVP trophy is likely up next.

So is a massive payday, one that should easily exceed the seven-year, $213.5 million extension offer Judge rejected from the Yankees before Opening Day.

Signing Judge will require a lot of money, something that is not lost on the Giants, who are expected to spend after a down year in 2022. And while president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi wouldn’t talk about specific players on Wednesday at the general managers meetings, he did make it clear that San Francisco has the means to shop at the high-end of the market.

“From a financial standpoint, there’s nobody that would be out of our capability to kind of meet what we expect the contract demands will be,” Zaidi told reporters, per MLB.com’s Maria Guardado. “It’ll just be a question of whether there’s mutual interest and how we put together the best possible team.”

Judge and the Yankees have repeatedly stated their desire to continue a marriage that has been lucrative for both sides, but free agency brings uncertainty and a wide-open negotiating table. Judge is from Linden, California, a two-plus-hour drive to San Francisco, and grew up a Giants fan, leading many to wonder if he could shed his pinstripes for a familiar West Coast locale.

The Giants, meanwhile, could use a fan-drawing superstar in their post-Buster Posey era.

The Yankees, of course, would be losing the same thing if Judge were to walk, a possibility that the Bronx faithful is dreading. Judge (and first baseman Anthony Rizzo) will get a one-year qualifying offer from New York, but it will take a mega-millions, multi-year deal to keep the slugger.

Brian Cashman reiterated Tuesday that re-signing Judge is at the top of his offseason to-do list. But New York’s general manager also acknowledged that the four-time All-Star will set the pace this winter.

“If you could wave a magic wand, we would secure Aaron Judge and retain him and have him signed and happy in the fold as soon as possible,” Cashman said, per MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. “He’s a free agent. He’s earned the right to be a free agent, so he’ll dictate the dance steps.”

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