Show him the money!
After a historic regular season, Aaron Judge has placed himself in prime position to become one of, if not the highest-paid player in baseball — in terms of average annual value. However, there will be multiple suitors for the Yankees’ sluggers services beginning with his hometown San Francisco Giants.
The Giants are the favorite to land Judge should he leave New York sitting at 2-1, according to Sportsbetting.ag. The Mets (3-1), Dodgers (4-1), Astros (6-1) and Red Sox (8-1) are behind the Giants.
Most of the bettors’ action indicate a move to San Francisco may very much be in play for No. 99.
“Of the action we have, nearly 85 percent of the handle has been on San Francisco,” Adam Burns, sportsbook manager at SportsBetting.ag, told the Daily News. “The Giants actually started with 9-1 odds so our risk has moved them to the favorite position. I’m sure with Judge growing up in California and as a Giants fan has certainly factored into the bets.”
Despite the Yankees not appearing on the list, counting them out would be foolish. If the Bombers were listed, they would be heavy favorites, according to Burns.
“We initially opened the Judge free agency odds about a month ago [Sept. 22] so we’ve taken a decent amount of action on them,” Burns told The News. “That said, I think we, as well as most bettors, are confident he’ll re-sign with the Yankees so the handle may be a bit down because they aren’t an option. The Yanks would be odds-on favorites, probably around -300, if they were on the list.”
It remains to be seen just how much Judge will receive this winter. It will certainly be more than the seven-year, $213.5 million contract extension he was offered by the Bombers this spring.
One way or another, it appears that Judge may be in Yankee Stadium on Opening Day of 2023. As a member of the Yankees or the visiting Giants.
