New York Yankees superstar Aaron Judge recently admitted in spring training that he was very frustrated about the organization’s slow pace to the offseason, calling it “brutal” to follow, and his comments left Yankees play-by-play voice Michael Kay confused.
“Oh, it was brutal,” Judge said on Monday. “I see a lot of free agents out there. I see a lot of guys, like the Bellingers, the Goldschmidts… Let’s sign these guys right now and then start adding more pieces because I’m seeing other teams around the league get better. They’re making trades. They’re signing big players, and we were sitting there for a while kind of making smaller moves.
“Early on, it was pretty tough to watch. I’m like, man, ‘We’re the New York Yankees.’ Let’s go out there and get the right people, get the right pieces to go out there and finish this thing out because we’ve got a special group of players here… We’ve got a good core, a good young core. So it was frustrating.”
The Yankees did go on to re-sign Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt in January, and Judge admitted he had offered input to the higher-ups ahead of the moves: “They took care of business. They listened to my opinion about a couple of guys, Bellinger being one of the guys.”
Judge’s comments caught the attention of Yankees television play-by-play voice Michael Kay.
On Wednesday’s edition of The Michael Kay Show on ESPN New York radio, Kay expressed his confusion over Judge’s comments.
“Didn’t it seem somewhat to you passive-aggressive?” Kay said in response to a caller about Judge’s comments. “Like, he was frustrated, but then he loves the team that they have. So, what was he frustrated about? Just the pace, that they didn’t do things right away? If you’re gonna lock in to getting Bellinger, then you’re a victim to Scott Boras’ whim. So, to me, it sounded almost passive-aggressive.”
“Obviously, when Judge talks, people listen, and he had some interesting to say,” Kay added. “He sounded frustrated, but then he sounded satisfied. Little passive aggressive, but in the end, he said, ‘I love this team,’ and this is the team he wanted. So, I don’t understand what Aaron is saying… Where would you have made the changes? Who would you have brought in that was available in the free agent market that would have changed the world?”
Judge is the best hitter on the planet and has produced three seasons over the last four years in which he was valued at double-digit wins above replacement, resulting in being awarded the AL MVP in all of those three seasons. He’s entering his age-34 season and has won zero World Series titles, so it would be understandable if he’s losing some patience, especially while the Los Angeles Dodgers continue to tower over the Yankees and the rest of Major League Baseball.