Tuesday BP: It’s go time

Dec 6, 2022 - 1:00 PM

Happy Tuesday, San Francisco Giants fans. We’re getting very close to Aaron Judge choosing his home for the next decade or so, and it feels like there’s a decent chance it might happen today.

So let’s get caught up. Judge was always presumed to be the first major domino to fall, but a few of the top free agents have jumped the gun and signed anyways, and they’ve all blown past their projected contracts. The Texas Rangers signed injury-prone ace Jacob deGrom to a deal that will pay him $185 million over five years (with a team option for a sixth year), a staggering figure for a player of his age and injury status. The New York Mets replaced deGrom by inking Justin Verlander to a two year, $86.66 million contract.

And then the first position player shoe dropped, with Trea Turner leaving the Los Angeles Dodgers (hooray!) to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies ... and collecting $300 million over 11 years along the way, a figure that’s even more staggering upon the reports that he turned down better offers elsewhere.

But for the Giants it’s all about Judge, at least until his decision is made one way or another. And while the Giants are stopping short of projecting optimism about Judge, they do sound like a team that’s a little happier with how the process has played out than the New York Yankees.

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports that “confidence is quietly growing” for the Giants, which is obviously fairly exciting.

The Giants have plenty of exciting options to pivot too if Judge decides to return to his baseball home rather than his childhood home. But no option is more exciting than Judge, and it seems that his decision is nearly here.

Fingers crossed.