New York Yankees star outfielder Aaron Judge is officially signed back to New York. Before the 2022 season started, General Manager Brain Cashman announced that the Yankees Front Office offered Judge a seven-year, $213.5 million dollar deal. He turned down the offer and shocked an entirety of the fan base. Fans swarmed social media and immediately started panicking that this might be his last season playing in New York. However, that suspicion was refuted when he signed the contract, saying he would stay in New York for seven years. The Yankees’ biggest competitors in signing the slugger were the San Francisco Giants, who were looking for a star to take them to the next level. 

 Judge, adopted and raised in San Francisco, grew up loving the Giants. Fans were concerned that a desire to play for his childhood team might emerge and that he would instinctively sign with them. Judge was asked via Twitter about his favorite team and his favorite players in 2013. The slugger replied with an answer that worried many fans throughout the 2022 season. “Favorite team is the Giants and my favorite players are Giancarlo Stanton and Albert Pujols,” he tweeted. While he plays with one of his favorite players in the Bronx, this tweet would be the start of many concerns for the fans.  

On December 6, 2022, the MLB world was shaken up. Jon Heyman, a baseball columnist at the NY Post tweeted about Judge’s free agency decision, saying that he had chosen to head west and play in San Francisco. “Arson Judge appears headed to the Giants,” Heyman tweeted, purposefully spelling Judge’s first name incorrectly. Igniting the hearts of both Giants and Yankee fans, Heyman had set baseball twitter ablaze. However, the comment was false, and when no other sources confirmed the move, Heyman tweeted out that he had “jumped the gun.” One day later, Yankee fans were ecstatic and relieved to find out that Judge did not choose his hometown team, but instead signed back to the Bronx. 

The 30 year old will most likely be confined to the Yankees franchise for the rest of his career, which provides an opportunity to name Judge as the sixteenth captain. Lifetime Yankees player and Hall of Famer Derek Jeter was the last captain the team had. The shortstop had a remarkable career with the Yanks, earning him a plaque in Cooperstown. Being named captain is an incredible honor and not an everyday occurrence. Many players on the Yankees have said that they give a lot of respect to Judge’s name and say that he does deserve to be captain, claiming that they will even wait for Judge to finish his press conference before they leave the clubhouse to go home. 

Aaron Judge is not an ordinary or average ball player, though. During his previous season, he broke the single season American League home run record of 61, which was set in 1961 by Yankee legend Roger Maris. Judge hit 62 home runs in 162 games and was praised all over the internet. He also has not failed to put up large numbers in his time with the Yankees; in his career so far, he has put up a Triple Slash (AVG/OBP/SLG) of .284, .394, and slugged .583. His 2022 season was capped off with an MVP honor, edging out two-way player and 2021 winner Shohei Ohtani for the award. Freshman Payton Linneman commented, “I think the Yankees signing Judge is a really good thing. The Yankees made a good choice to sign him again and to name him captain. I think he is going to really excel this upcoming season again. It’s going to be a good nine years if everything stays put together.” 

While Arson Judge heads over to San Francisco, Aaron Judge will retire as a Yankee, and fans could not be more excited following his 2022 season. The front office has been dormant so far this season, with left-handed pitcher Carlos Rodon as their next target. Fans will have to wait until spring training to start reacting to the offseason.