Report: Yankees view Giants as biggest threat to sign Aaron Judge

The New York Yankees are a favorite to win it all this year, but they may already be scoping out the competition for the offseason.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported on Thursday that the Yankees view the San Francisco Giants as the biggest threat to sign All-Star outfielder Aaron Judge. The 30-year-old slugger was born in Linden, California (less than 100 miles from San Francisco) and attended college at nearby Fresno State.

Judge will be a free agent after the season. He is currently having a colossal contract year with an MLB-leading 22 home runs and 1.058 OPS. Judge has also helped lead the Yankees to a league-best 40-16 record, putting them on a 115-win pace. He looks like the frontrunner right now for AL MVP and is enjoying a historic season by some notable measures.

As for the Giants, they will probably be able to make a solid run at Judge since they have nearly $50M less in payroll than the Yankees do for the 2023 season. Judge is known to have grown up as a Giants fan as well. But San Francisco may actually be playing catch-up with this nearby team that already appears to be recruiting Judge.