Arenado

New York Yankees: Aaron Judge, Future Yankee Captain

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New York Yankees, Aaron Judge

The New York Yankees have had a list of captains that’s a who’s who of baseball greats. Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Derek Jeter have all been given the prestigious title of the captain of the Yankees. When Derek Jeter retired after the 2014 season, many wondered who would be the next Yankee great to be awarded the title. Little did Yankees fans know, their next captain would make his debut in 2016 and do it with a bang. He’s larger than life figure in a larger than life place playing for a larger than life team, and his name is Aaron Judge.

This is Aaron Judge’s Team

I saw something pretty humorous yesterday on Twitter, where Jon Hein was saying that if the New York Yankees went out and acquired Nolan Arenado, he would be the face of the Yankees franchise immediately. Let me be clear, Nolan Arenado is a superstar. He’s got all the makeups to be a superstar in New York. However, as long as Aaron Judge is around, no one else will be the face of the franchise. Gerrit Cole is arguably the best pitcher in baseball and has already become a fan favorite, but he is not the face of the Yankees. The laughable quote to me was that Aaron Judge would take a “backseat” to Nolan Arenado if the Yankees acquired him.

I really wonder if Jon Hein understands the Yankees fan-base at all with a comment like that. The Yankees do love their stars, but there’s nothing like a homegrown superstar who embodies everything that the Yankees are. Nolan Arenado is not better than Alex Rodriguez was in 2004. A-Rod was essentially what Mike Trout is now in baseball. If you asked anyone in 2004 who the best player in baseball was, everyone would tell you it was Alex Rodriguez. Yet when he came to New York, A-Rod was never the face of the team. The team belonged to Derek Jeter, just like this Yankees team belongs to Aaron Judge.

Why Judge is the perfect captain?

Aaron Judge is the perfect captain for the Yankees. He’s a leader on and off the field, and much like his predecessor, you are not going to hear anything negative about him off the field. He’s humble, respectful, and not to mention one of the best right fielders in all of baseball. He falls right in-line with Yankees like Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter in the sense that even rival fans can’t say anything bad about the guy.

If Aaron Judge can stay healthy, I think he is due for another MVP caliber season in 2020. Injuries have hampered him the last two seasons, but he still had a combined WAR of 10.9 in just 214 games (Baseball-Reference). Judge will inevitably win a Gold Glove to go along with his Wilson Defensive Player of the Year award, and he will continue to make the jaws drop with 400+ foot bombs to all sides of the park. Judge just signed a one year, $8.5 million deal in his first year of arbitration eligibility, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see a significant extension coming his way in the near future. He will be a lifelong Yankee, and personally, there’s no one else I’d rather see lead this team through this next decade. All Rise Yankee fans for the captain, Aaron Judge.

The New York Yankees Nolan Arenado Rumors Are Blasphemous

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New York Yankees, Nolan Arenado

I’ve watched the New York Yankees/Rockies Nolan Arenado trade rumor develop over the last few days and went through various stages of emotion.

Initially I was detachedly bemused at what should have been on a non-story getting legs and starting to spread. Now I realize it’s a microcosm for the new and more often than not terrible state of sports writing on most sites.
I believe it was initially in the Martino article that this idea was first floated. The article stated that “people briefed” on the Yankees thinking said they were interested and were having internal discussions about trading for Arenado.

Is that too vague for you?

If that wasn’t vague enough the next line really grasps at straws “One source says they probably have talked already.” Then the author states he has no confirmation from either side about any of this.

At that point he then takes the unsubstantiated and unattributed rumor and uses it as the linchpin of his article including “Frankly it would be surprising if they haven’t talked by now”. So we’ve created a rumor and used that rumor as the foundation of a piece that then tries to sell you on why said rumor makes sense.

The big networks are engaging in the sensationalism:

Three days later Yahoo, CBS Sports, SB nation and every other sports blog or media site is acting as if this was a real thing and the teams were in active discussions.

First of all, Colorado was a playoff team last year and has aspirations to be one again this year. Unless Arenado tells them he will not come back to Colorado under any circumstance its unlikely they will trade him. The comparisons to Machado’s situation last year do not fit, as Baltimore was a last place team and was dumping their entire roster.

The second thing is that Arenado has expressed a desire to return to the Rockies, an admiration for Todd Helton and Derek Jeter for playing with one team for their entire careers, and an appreciation for what that could do for his legacy. He also has some serious home/road splits and leaving Denver could impact his production as he ages. While he also said he wants to play on a perennial contender, he has not given any sign he thinks Colorado cannot be one.

A realistic point of view:

Finally from a Yankee point of view why would you trade assets for a player you can just sign next year if your that enamored with him?

Also, are we sure his production without playing half his games in Colorado will be that much better than what Andujar (who is 5 years younger and will be 20 million per season cheaper) will offer over the next 5 to 8 years? Wouldn’t the Yankees prefer to sign Machado, who is younger and proven in the AL east over, Arenado and the questions about his transition from obscurity to the sports largest and most intense media market?

Not to mention having to give up Andujar and/or Frazier in likelihood as the centerpiece of the trade. This is exactly the type of trade that Brian Cashman has been refusing to make, why would he go back to it now?

It’s fun to make up trades and talk about then with other fans and your friends. You discuss the pros and cons and try to convince each other that your right. It’s another thing to make up a rumor, or to take it and re-post or link to it with no proof and call it news.

Sources tell me the Yankees are interested in dealing Domingo German for Noah Syndergaard and may have reached out to the Mets front office about it. In the words of Jay from Big Mouth “Your picturing it, were talking about it…that’s a win.”