It’s official: Aaron Judge is returning to the New York Yankees

Aaron Judge is officially returning to the New York Yankees with a massive new deal.

Are you keeping up yet?

Less than 24 hours after “Arson” Judge was mistakenly reported to be heading to the San Francisco Giants on a huge new contract, MLB insider Jon Morosi of the MLB Network is reporting that Arson’s brother Aaron is indeed returning to the Yankees after all.

Shortly after Morosi’s breaking of the news, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic followed up with the financials, saying that the 2022 AL MVP’s new deal with the Yankees is a nine-year, $360 million pact (pending a physical, of course).

Yankees: Aaron Judge not going anywhere after all

Throughout Judge’s first trip through free agency, it never truly felt like he was going to move on from New York, the team he’s called home since his debut back in 2016.

A four-time All-Star Game participant, Rookie of the Year Award winner, three-time Silver Slugger and American League home run record holder, Judge has 220 longballs in just 729 career games, highlighted by his 62-homer performance last season.

There are simply not enough words in the dictionary to really put into perspective how dominant this man was at the plate last year. His 62 home runs, 133 runs scored, 131 runs batted in, 111 walks, .425 OBP, .686 SLG%, 1.111 OPS and 211 OPS+ were all league-leading marks for the big slugger.

His staying in the Bronx will not change much on the organizational depth chart the club ran with last season. Now that he’s back for what will be the rest of his big league career, Judge will continue to get playing time in center and right with the occasional spot start at DH.

Aaron Judge remains a New York Yankee and everything is as it should be in the world.