MLB finds no collusion between Yankees, Mets over Aaron Judge free agency

MLB told TIME that they found no collusion between the New York Yankees and Mets over Aaron Judge’s free agency.

Last week, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported that MLB was investigating both the New York Yankees and Mets for improperly communicating over outfielder Aaron Judge’s free agency. This stemmed from an SNY article that said that some in the Mets organization didn’t feel that they would compete with the Yankees for Judge in free agency. One week later, the investigation is reportedly over.

MLB executives told TIME’s Sean Gregory that they did not find the Yankees or Mets colluded regarding Judge’s free agency.

“We’ve completed our investigation,” a senior MLB executive told TIME. “And we’ve notified the MLBPA that there is no basis for any claim of collusion.”

MLB finds Yankees, Mets did not collude over Aaron Judge free agency

While MLB found there was no collusion, TIME says that the MLB Player’s Association could still file a grievance, which would be handled by an independent arbiter. TIME mentions that the MLBPA didn’t comment regarding the conclusion of the investigation.

In the aforementioned SNY article, those in the Mets organization told the outlet that they didn’t expect to compete with the Yankees for Judge. The outlet says that that was the same answer they gave when Judge turned down a seven-year, $213.5 million offer from the Yankees prior to the start of the 2022 season. Those people said that Judge was “uniquely tailored to be an icon in their uniform, stadium and branding efforts.”

Additionally, the SNY article said that Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner and Mets owner Steve Cohen “enjoy a mutually respectful relationship, and do not expect to upend that with a high-profile bidding war.”

In regards to Judge, Steinbrenner said that they would do “everything” to keep the 2022 AL MVP in pinstripes.

Judge won the AL MVP award pretty convincingly, receiving 28-of-30 first-place votes. Now, he could very well be the highest-paid player in baseball when all is said and done. Besides the Yankees, he is heavily linked to the San Francisco Giants, as he grew up in California and was a fan of the team.

In regards to the investigation of the Yankees and Mets, MLB concluded that nothing detrimental took place.