Looking to make a splash in MLB free agency, the San Francisco Giants put the full-court press on AL MVP Aaron Judge during their two-day recruiting pitch earlier this week. The Giants had all their top brass on hand, including team owner Larry Baer.
But their pitch extended past having their own All-Star outfielder Joc Pederson publicly campaigning for the Giants to add the superstar slugger to the lineup. It also included a different Bay Area sports superstar.
According to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports, the Giants also provided access to Golden State Warriors All-Star Stephen Curry’s people, hoping the two megastars would connect.
In all, the Giants were able to meet with Judge for two days, selling him on the upside of joining their team, where he’d likely be making much bigger splashes by smacking home runs into McCovey Cove for years to come.
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Aaron Judge’s meeting with San Francisco Giants went well, offer coming soon
With the Giants being the first team known to have met with Judge thus far, it doesn’t mean they will be the only organization that gets to sit with the former Yankees star. The Los Angeles Dodgers are also expected to get a face-to-face meeting with the 6-foot-7 slugger.
- Aaron Judge stats (2022): .311/.425/.686/1.111 OPS, 62 home runs, 131 RBI
While we don’t know exactly when Judge plans to make a decision on which team he’ll sign with, the 30-year-old California native did hint last week that he’d prefer to get the contract out of the way, so his team can get a head start on shaping the rest of the roster.
“I don’t know how fast it’s going to go or how slow it’s going to go, but there are teams we’ve talked to,” he said after being named MVP. “For me, if we’re going to build a winning team, if I can get [my contract] out of the way so they can move on or add some more pieces, I think that’s an advantage.”
Aaron Judge on his timeline to sign (H/T to Alex Pavlovic of NBCSports)
As Jon Morosi of MLB Network adds, the Giants are expected to make an official contract offer to Judge within the next week. He also speculated that Judge’s decision could come at the end of the annual Winter Meetings held from December 4th through the 7th.
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