No two words in the English language were more connected during baseball’s Winter Meetings than “Judge” and “legacy.” More than years and dollars or other potential landing spots for baseball’s best slugger, that’s what everyone on MLB Network talked about. It’s what every Yankees fan ranted about on Twitter.
Thankfully, nobody made it into a drinking game. People might have died. The talking point: “What about Aaron Judge’s legacy with the Yankees? Would he really throw that away?”
In a very real way, the Yankees Mystique almost felt like it was on trial.
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And not just the Brian Cashman Yankees Mystique, but the Ruth/DiMaggio/Mantle/Reggie Yankees Mystique. The 27 World Series titles Mystique.
In a world — or is it a bubble or an echo chamber? — where the allure of wearing the pinstripes in Yankees Stadium was built up to the point where it was seen as more important than money, the idea of Judge actually leaving was just silly, a thing that couldn’t actually happen. Stars don’t leave the Yankees if the Yankees want the stars to stay.
And in the end, of course, Judge stayed. The Yankees Mystique survived, but only barely.
Because Judge did not stay primarily because of his potential legacy with the franchise, or the Yankees Mystique. He will say all the right things at his press conference. He’ll mention Ruth and Mantle and Jeter, and he’ll sing praises of the fans and playing at the stadium.
Aaron Judge is a smart guy.
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But Aaron Judge almost left to play for another team, in part because the Yankees spent nearly every moment right up until the end assuming Judge would take less than he knew he was worth on the open market. They assumed that during spring training, when they offered him the seven-year, $213 million contract, and then Cashman released the numbers even though Judge was under the impression that the terms would stay secret. They even assumed it early this offseason, if solid reporting from established, credible reporters is to be believed (and it is), with an initial offer that was obviously below what other teams would offer.
It’s mind boggling that after what happened this spring — to be fair, the lockout-shortened spring didn’t help anything, especially with Judge not wanting to negotiate during the season — that the Yankees tried to extend an offseason offer they knew wouldn’t be accepted. But they did it anyway because, I guess, “We’re the Yankees! We are the team of Lou Gehrig and Joltin’ Joe and Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle, and we play in the house that Babe Ruth built! We get what we want, on our terms!”
Never mind that Gehrig, DiMaggio, Berra and Mantle had no say in where they played, in an era before trailblazers such as Curt Flood made free agency and player-dictated movement a reality. That doesn’t fit the Yankees’ narrative, though.
In the end, Judge stayed with the Yankees because of this truth: The Yankees needed Judge more than Judge needed the Yankees.
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The Yankees Mystique, and Judge’s legacy with the storied franchise? It’s not nothing, of course. I don’t meant to imply that. It’s a wonderful thing, a great bonus for Judge, but it’s hard to see it as a primary motivation.
Maybe, if all things were equal, Judge didn’t really want to leave. But until the very end, when the Yankees finally blinked and bent the knee, things were not equal. Judge almost certainly would have left. Yankees Mystique didn’t bridge that gap between what the Giants were offering and what the Yankees were offering. Money did. Money buys mystique because money helps buy championships. Nobody knew that better than George Steinbrenner. His son, Hal, is learning that, too.
Aaron Judge is a Yankee primarily because the Yankees gave him $146 million more in December than they offered him in March. Judge didn’t settle this spring for less than he was worth just so he could try to build his Yankees legacy. And then he went out and mashed 62 home runs, passing the iconic single-season totals set by Babe Ruth (60) and Roger Maris (61). He forced the Yankees to admit they needed him more than he needed them, and they paid up.
That’s the Aaron Judge Mystique.