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Aaron Judge admitted it was brutal watching his team play it slow early in the offseason.
The New York Yankees finished the 2025 season with a 94-68 record and fell to their division rival, the Toronto Blue Jays, in the divisional round. With a more competitive AL East this offseason, there was pressure for New York to keep up with its division rivals. However, their offseason has drawn a lot of criticism. The latest remarks come from their team captain, Aaron Judge.
Judge shared some of that frustration with the media, with his remarks captured by SNYtv.
“It was brutal. I see a lot of free agents out there. I see a lot of guys like the [Cody] Bellingers, the [Trent] Grishams, the [Paul] Goldschmidts. Let’s sign these guys right now and then start adding more pieces.”
The Yankees did just that. They retained Grisham on the qualifying offer, then re-signed Bellinger and Goldschmidt. Outside of that, the team’s biggest addition was left-hander Ryan Weathers, who they picked up in a trade with the Miami Marlins.
While the Yankees focused on keeping Bellinger as their top priority, three of their division rivals each splurged in free agency. The Blue Jays added Dylan Cease, Ranger Suarez went to the Red Sox, and the Orioles grabbed Pete Alonso.
“I’m seeing other teams around the league get better. They’re making trades, they’re signing big prospects or big players, and we were sitting there for a while, kind of making smaller moves.”
Aaron Judge on Yankees Offseason
Judge admits it can be tough to watch the Yankees take a patient approach to the offseason. In the last two offseasons, they worked quickly to acquire Juan Soto in a trade and sign Max Fried to a $218 million contract.
This winter, it was about waiting out Bellinger’s market before re-signing him on a five-year, $162.5 million contract. Much of that was due to the left-handed swinger’s strong fit for Yankee Stadium.
The one silver lining to their offseason is that they were able to retain their top two free agents. Grisham and Goldschmidt will be back for 2026, and Bellinger even longer than that.
“It was tough there in the beginning, but I think once we solidified getting Bellinger back, we got Trent being our center fielder, being our leadoff guy for another year,” said Judge. “You add a guy like Goldy, some of the back-end bullpen pieces that we’ve been doing, I think we’ll be in a good spot.
“We’ve got a special group of players here. We’ve got a good core, good young core. It was frustrating, but I think we’re right where we need to be.”
Since they lost the AL East to a tiebreaker, there are reasons to believe they’ll stay competitive while running back a similar roster. The division will be tougher, given how aggressive the Yankees’ division rivals were in free agency this winter. Their work will be cut out for them in 2025.
Reinforcements will come during the season. Carlos Rodon and Gerrit Cole are expected to return to the Yankees’ rotation during the season.
The question remains: Was the Yankees’ approach to run it back this offseason enough? Or did the rest of the AL East catch up to them, and it’s going to be a meatgrinder for a postseason spot?
Michael McDermott Michael McDermott is a writer at Heavy Sports covering the Arizona Diamondbacks and Major League Baseball. Michael has 10 years experience writing about the D-backs and their farm system for AZ Snake Pit, Burn City Sports, and Diamondbacks On SI. More about Michael McDermott
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