J.J. Hardy cited his desire to play on a team that consistently wins as one of the primary reasons that he signed a three-year contract extension with the Baltimore Orioles.
Whether he meant to or not, J.J. Hardy came out on Thursday and trolled New York Yankees’ fans. Hard.
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Hardy signed a three-year extension with the Orioles this week before their AL Championship Series against the Kansas City Royals got underway on Friday. The veteran shortstop would have been a popular target in free agency this winter, but he opted to stay with the Orioles because he believes they give him the chance to consistently win.
Cue Yankees’ fans raging.
"Hardy could have tested the free agent market following the season, but he chose to sign his second extension with the Orioles.“It crossed my mind, but at the same time this is where I wanted to be,” Hardy said. “There’s a lot of uncertainty in free agency. You don’t know what’s going to happen, but there were a lot of things that went into it.“I knew that I liked it here, I knew that I liked playing with all my teammates. The whole coaching staff, I enjoyed playing for them. I believe that Dan, Buck, the Angelos family, they’re all going to continue doing everything they possibly can to make this organization better. And bottom line, it comes down to winning and I think we’ve got a good thing here.”"
He’s not wrong about the Orioles, but it says a lot about what the Orioles have going for them that Hardy chose to stay without testing what would have been a hot market first.
J.J. Hardy batted .268/.309/.372 in 141 games for the Orioles this season.
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- MLB Rumors: Shohei Ohtani, Angels, Dodgers, Rich Hill
- NY Mets: 4 monstrous trade packages for Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer
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