Before trading for National League MVP Giancarlo Stanton in December, New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman decided he would place a call to one individual who had no hands-on involvement in the deal.
Aaron Judge.
Cashman had the deal in place to acquire Stanton from the Miami Marlins, but he first decided to get Judge’s opinion, and the reigning American League Rookie of the Year had a pretty simple answer.
“I said, ‘Go get him,'” Judge said, via MLB.com. “An MVP-caliber player on our team? Let’s do it. What can we do? We already have a great team, but adding Stanton and a couple other pieces, we’re going to be great.”
On top of gaging his opinion of the deal, part of calling Judge was to make sure he was fine with possibly playing in left field and designated hitter a bit more, according to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch.
That aside, Judge is perceived to be a leader in the clubhouse, so Cashman wanted to keep the communication lines open.
“He’s one of our leaders, despite being so young,” Cashman said. “So I remember reaching out to him prior to consummating (the trade) and just floating the weather balloon. I did want to reach out to him and get a feel from his perspective, and I was excited even more so by his response.”
We had a feeling not many people would have an issue with having that bat in their lineup.
The trio of Judge-Stanton-Gary Sanchez combined for 144 home runs last season alone, and given the Yankees didn’t need to give up much in order to make the deal happen, it’s no surprise the Bronx Bombers are among the favorites to win the A.L. pennant.
