FANS WILL SIDE WITH JUDGE OVER THE YANKEES IF HE BOLTS THE BRONX

Because the season was good and not great, I believe that Aaron Judge is beloved by the fans more than the fans base loves the organization as a whole. Judge did something not done in a long time, and he did it because he was healthy and on the field every day.  He had a miraculous season, he's got class. He rallies a team. He's a professional. He's a captain even though the Yankees are dragging their feet with that.  All in all, he is what we want in a player.

Right now, Twitter is the biggest shit storm out there.  People are making up stories about players going to this team or that, guys like Jon Heyman totally destroyed his reputation (although I have always predicted his actual knowledge as a baseball insider for years here on BYB as being horrendous) by tweeting that Judge was going to the Giants before he actually was.  It's really a sewer on there.  I am counting the days until I decide I'm leaving Twitter, because I literally get 3% of my readership from there.  Facebook? About 40%. And of course, the rest just go straight to Bleeding Yankee Blue on their own because we are honest, fair, and we don't hold back. That's why certain players don't like us, it's why some fans don't like us and it's why the Yankees and BYB will never have a close relationship. Plain and simple we call out the Yankees bullshit and aren't looking for access. We just want to do honest reporting here.  But now I'm going off the rails...

Look, Aaron Judge is loved in New York.  And now as a free agent it has gotten nasty. But that's the business.  I remember what Derek Jeter said when he entered free agency. In a 2010 article from the New York Post:

"I was angry about it because I was the one who said I wasn’t going to (shop around),” Jeter said. “To hear the organization say go shop it and I just told you I wasn’t going to. Yeah, to be honest with you, I was angry about it.’’

Asked whom specifically whom he was angry at, Jeter said, “I’m not going to point the finger at anyone. We’re one big happy family.”

Jeter said he also was upset with how public things became between the two sides, when it was reported that Jeter’s agent, Casey Close, asked for significantly more than the Yankees were willing to offer.

“I’m angry at the process and how I was portrayed,” Jeter said. “I heard about greed and all of a sudden I had an ego and arrogance.”

But that is what the Yankees do. The Yankees seem to forget that the player played their heart out the seasons before when that player goes into free agency, they have one request, DON'T GO PUBLIC. And the Yankees turn around and do it anyway. They do it to turn the tide against the player, to back them into a corner. They do it to rile up the fan base. Why? Because they know there's another player out there, they can always get.  They know their brand sells, despite who the player is.  They did it with Jeter who was a franchise player, and they are now doing it with Judge.

The New York Post writes:

"Before Opening Day and Judge’s deadline to reach a contract extension, GM Brian Cashman held a press conference in which he announced the Yankees had offered Judge a seven-year, $213 million that he turned down.

“We kind of said, ‘Hey, let’s keep this between us,’” Judge said. “I was a little upset that the numbers came out. I understand it’s a negotiation tactic. Put pressure on me. Turn the fans against me, turn the media on me. That part of it I didn’t like.”

The comments come as the winter meetings are in full swing and a potential Judge signing happening any day now. The Giants have long been seen as the top threat to the Yankees to sign away the northern California native. It would be something that Judge predicted in 2010, his wife Samantha Bracksieck reminded him.

“I said, in 10 years, I’ll be married to Sam and playing for the San Francisco Giants.” Judge said. “I was like, that’d better not get out.”

It’s out now and it has to give Yankees fans a queasy feeling about their chances of re-signing the 30-year-old. Cashman said at the winter meetings on Monday the Yankees had made several offers to Judge, but he had no insight as to if they were the favorites to re-sign him."

There is something that the Yankees forget in all of this. Fans come to the ballpark to watch their favorite players. They did it with Jeter for years. They want to continue doing it with Judge.  The Yankees have to give the fans what they want.  It's the right thing to do. But here's the worst part; They have publicly shamed our guy.  Judge feels slighted, and because of that, why in the world would he come back to the Bronx when another team wants him way more?

It doesn't come down to us fans sadly. If it did, Jake deGrom would still be a Met. Think about this; that guy left for the Rangers, and he still hasn't thanked the Mets fans for supporting him. The Fans LOVED deGrom.  deGrom just didn't like being a Met and the fans weren't enough, I guess. 

Aaron Judge is close to going to the west coast. That is my prediction, and it was when I wrote our story in October titled  titled MY SOURCE SAYS "JUDGE WILL BE A SAN FRANCISCO GIANT NEXT YEAR..."

I hope to God I'm wrong. I hope Judge stays in New York. Why? Because he's loved by the fans, he has tremendous character, a leadership presence and is total class.  Leaving would not only put a void into this uncertain Yankee team, but it would also put a true stain on our front office as they fumble over each other trying to figure out how to fix their PR problem.  

Yankee brass is not in touch with the fan base. They are above us and they don't care about us!

Trust me, trying to sign Rodon and Correa after we lose Judge won't be the fix we need. That's just smoke and mirrors to distract us with a shiny thing. What we need is a Yankees front office that understands what the fans really want.  

And right this second, fans really want Judge. Yankees have the money to do that.  Let's do it for the fans, please.