During their two-day meeting earlier this week, the San Francisco Giants tried to dazzle MLB superstar Aaron Judge with a star of their own -- but they decided to think outside the diamond. According to NBC Sports, the organization recruited Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry to remind Judge of the talent he can find around the neighborhood.
Judge, a California native, has spent his entire MLB career since 2016 with the New York Yankees. The four-time All-Star is well loved in the Bronx, however, the team has not won a World Series title since 2009 and he is currently exploring his options.
"We're ready when u are 99," wrote Giants' outfielder Joe Pederson on a recent Instagram story.
Judge arrived in San Francisco on Monday. That evening, he and his agent were at Oracle Park and had dinner with Giants CEO Larry Baer, team president Farhan Zaidi, manager Gabe Kapler and other members of the organization. The meetings continued the following day.
This was the first known visit between Judge and a team that is not the Yankees, but there won't be a shortage of offers for the reigining American League MVP. A source told NBC sports that the Giants are expecting Judge to talk to other teams in the next few days. One of the teams showing a significant amount of interest is the Los Angeles Dodgers.
California certainly has beautiful weather and plenty of stars, but none of this means Judge is necessarily leaving New York because that option is very much still open.
Judge turned down an offer from the Yankees ahead of opening day that would have been worth $213.5 million from 2023-29. He then went on to make history by hitting an AL-record 62 home runs this season, which increased his value on the open market. However, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner had a one-on-one meeting with Judge earlier this month and said he felt positive about the chances of his team bringing him back.
"I do believe he wants to be a Yankee. I think we've got a good thing going here," Steinbrenner said during media availability at the MLB owners meeting.
