What does Joc Pederson taking qualifying offer mean for Giants’ Aaron Judge pursuit?

Does outfielder Joc Pederson accepting his qualifying offer with the San Francisco Giants alter their chances of signing Aaron Judge this offseason?

The MLB Hot Stove season became very active on Tuesday, as it was the final day for players to accept the qualifying offer given to them by their respective teams, worth $19.65 million. One of the big names to receive the qualifying offer is Aaron Judge, who is coming off of a historic season with the New York Yankees, and set to test free agency.

14 players were given the offer, but only two accepted. Judge was not one of them. To be specific San Francisco Giants outfielder Joc Pederson took the offer.

Interestingly enough, given the price of the offer and the fact that the team is heavily linked to Judge this offseason, how will this news affect their pursuit?

Will Joc Pederson’s qualifying offer affect Giants’ pursuit of Aaron Judge?

The answer to this question is no.

Giants president Farhan Zaidi said just last week that “nobody is out of our capability” from a financial standpoint. It should be noted, however, that he was not specifically speaking about Judge when making that comment. Plus, Zaidi brought up “mutual interest” when talking about the financials of signing a free agent.

Judge does have a connection with the Giants, mostly due to the fact that he grew up in California and was a Giants fan.

The Giants have tried to bring in a star outfielder in recent years, including Bryce Harper, but were unsuccessful. Bringing in Judge would be huge for them. The thing is, the Yankees are not going to give up in trying to re-sign him.

During an exclusive interview with YES Network, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said the team will do “everything” in their power to bring Judge back on a long-term deal. Not to mention that he also floated the idea of making him the team captain, a position that has not been held since Derek Jeter retired back in 2014.

The signing of Judge will be the biggest domino to fall in the Hot Stove season, and the baseball world is going to be waiting to see the report or announcement from Judge himself as to what decision he makes.