I know that pitchers are being careful, but this isn’t like Bonds stuck on 69 home runs being pitched around every at bat for three consecutive games times (7 intentional walks) before the Houston Manager (Dierker) finally relented and let a rookie go after him. (Bonds missed one strike and hit the second one into orbit.)
I realized last night that everyone takes OBP more seriously than BA these days, and Judge is leading all of MLB by 20+ points there. He’s probably not going to catch Arraez in BA but OBP/HR/RBI is pretty cool too.
Other than the historical significance of the triple crown, I'm with you. Judge leads the league in almost every meaningful offensive category (OBP, SLG, OPS (duh), TB, HR, RBI, Runs, Walks, XBH, oWAR, WPA, etc.). Aside from BA, he only really lags in hits, SBs, 2Bs (the homers have to, to some extent, come at the expense of results like 2Bs on well-struck balls), 3Bs... it's an incredible season and not having the batting title detracts nothing from his accomplishments in my meaningless opinion.
The AL runs scored leaderboard is crazy, Judge leading with 131 and Altuve next at just 102. Judge has 21 more ABs than Arraez (563 to 542) and has scored 45 more runs (131 to 86).
Lot of noise the last month or so that the Giants would throw a massive bag of money at him. He’s from central CA and even went to college in Fresno.
I'm fine with Judge going. That's not a hot take, it's just that he's the wrong age for a mega contract. He wants to be paid like the basically perfect player he is for 8 or 9 more years and I just can't see why or how we need to do that.
While I do love this thread because of the history inside of it - is there a reason that he came up so old? Just a late bloomer I assume?
This doesn't apply to you, but do you think the percentage of Yankee fans who would be okay with Judge moving on increased with his quiet postseason? I can imagine that if the Yankees lost in the ALCS, but Judge had been the one hitter carrying the load, it might be tougher to be okay with him leaving.
He played in college for three years (ages 19, 20, 21) before moving minor league ball. That explains most of his "old" age.
Depends on the temperature in the room. Right now Yankee fans are upset with everyone from Cashman to Boone to Judge. Everyone I know who isn't on SoSH is ready to light the whole damn team on fire for their ALCS performance (minus the pitching).
I don't think "largest market" / "rabid fanbase" is always as appealing as we, as fans, might make it out to be. I think, after having experienced the ups and downs of being a Yankee, a player like Judge (or Mookie...) might say "You know this shit is great in my 20s but I don't want to be here as the "face of the franchize" as I'm raising a family, dealing with age-related injuries and decline. As long as the money is comparable I'm good with dialing the insanity down." It's not like San Fran is a perennial loser; it's a big market and has shown it will spend to compete.
Sorry, is this about Xander?
Nice. Thanks for posting. Can't wait till he plays in Boston and Fallon and Barrymore can do Fever Pitch 2
I'm sure we will get in-depth stories soon, but the rumor on what happened yesterday was that Judge asked both teams to make their best final offers and he would decide. It always made way more sense for him to stay in NY if everything was relatively even offer-wise (legacy already started there, much better current team around him and probably better prospect pipeline, much better HR park), so I was pretty surprised about the SF choice reports.
Wonderful story. Getting players to talk about someone else is a great interviewing technique.
Thoughts like what? Nothing’s really been reported, rumors that it’s serious and rumors that it’s mild are going around. Either way, sounds like he will sit out a few days and not go on the IL yet. My main thought is ‘Go Knicks!’.
Dunno. Your hopes. Your dreams?
Man, this is a jump. He missed 10 days and could have played after 4 or 5 but they were being careful. With Bader back, he can go back to mostly playing RF instead of CF, so that should help.
5+, sure, but he’s got 8+ years left on the new deal. And like J.A. said, this is a pretty snap judgement based on (checks notes) your comments in the off-season and a brief time out of the lineup.
Well he's had plenty of injuries throughout his career already and missed time every season other than '22. His age and history to me suggest he won't hold up long term at an OF position. I don't think that's a snap judgement.
I really don't wish it on him.... but wasn't his age and injury history something to be more than concerned over? My position when several SoSH posters wanted the Sox to break the bank to sign Judge was that he was likely going to be a liability. I'm sticking with that. But the way the Yankees future looks.... they'll be able to grow around any possibility that Judge collapses without it hampering them the way I think it would have if the Sox did it (I doubt they sign Devers and while Judge is the superior player, I doubt in 1 year and further that will be the case)
We just went over this in the main thread but there's definitely players that do end up injuring themselves more than others. Earlier season injuries tend to continue to creep up in other ways- it's more related to pitching... but a hip injury, leg and knee injuries, especially for position players CAN continue to plague them. I also don't think it's that crazy to suggest that big dudes like Judge likely would re-injure themselves at positions that require a lot of going from a stand-still to a full sprint less than a guy built like Mookie Betts.
If I look around the league and , I have a hard time seeing a pattern attributed to who gets hurt and how often. If there was one, those players would hardly get signed. Judge hasn't really had any serious injuries and the real injury prone big guy you're looking for is Stanton. That dude has such an insanely violent swing that he can't stay on the field for more than 3 weeks anymore.
