Red Sox have no right to laugh at Yankees, Aaron Judge contract failure

Red Sox fans shouldn’t roast the Yankees for failing to extend Aaron Judge when Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers need new contracts as well.

The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees are opening the season against each other for the first time since 2013 and within the general madness of the rivalry, hypocrisy is blooming like flowers in springtime.

Hours before their first game of the season, the biggest headline on the east coast is that Aaron Judge turned down an enormous extension from the Yankees. According to GM Brian Cashman, the final offer was seven years at $30.5M per year. In terms of Average Annual Value (AAV), it would have made him one of the highest-paid outfielders in the game, and would also top Alex Rodriguez for highest-paid position player in franchise history.

Judge should absolutely take this extension. It’s an absurd amount of money for someone with his injury history and who strikes out as much as he does. According to Baseball-Reference, the league average strikeout rate is 22.3%; over his six-year career, Judge has a whopping 29.7 percent strikeout rate.

Instead, his camp is reportedly asking for nine years and an even higher AAV, which is pretty bold for the aforementioned reasons. Judge could very well overplay his hand, as Carlos Correa and Freddie Freeman supposedly did with their free agency this winter.

Red Sox fans troll Yankees for Aaron Judge contract failure

Unsurprisingly, Sox fans couldn’t pass up an opportunity to mock the Yankees on social media. But as the saying goes, people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones; after all, the Red Sox have two very important players they need to extend and haven’t made substantial progress with either of them. In the last week, Devers reportedly turned down an offer from the Sox, and Bogaerts said “Nah” when asked if he’d have a new deal before Opening Day.

Judge says he wants to be a Yankee for life, and Bogaerts says the same about the Sox. But at least publicly, only one club is making a real effort to retain the face of their franchise. The Yankees made Judge a substantial offer while the Red Sox went out and signed Trevor Story. He will play second base this season but would revert to shortstop if Bogaerts opts out, an insurance policy for Boston.

All said, it’s not time to chirp, Sox fans. The Yankees tried to make money moves, the Sox made a contingency plan.