3 reasons why Aaron Judge would want to join the SF Giants

3 reasons why Aaron Judge would want to join the SF Giants

2. Money

When Farhan Zaidi was hired as team president of baseball operations in November of 2018, he inherited an aging roster with a lot of underperforming, lucrative contracts. For years, the Giants were limited with spending due to these contracts.

Giants fans understood this and were patient with the front office as they reached a blank slate with the roster. At this point, the roster consists almost entirely of players signed by the current regime.

San Francisco is in a position so spend as they will have in the neighborhood of $110 million below the Competitive Balance Tax (CBT) or salary cap. I should add that Wilmer Flores' cap hit is slightly higher at $8.25 million because his two-year, $13 million extension includes a guarantee of at least $3.5 million for 2025, which increases his cap hit.

The Giants have had a payroll of about $170 million against the cap over the past couple of seasons but the front office seems poised to raise that number this winter. They are not going on a spending spree all in one offseason but they will make calculated increases to the payroll.

Judge will earn a massive payday this winter and few big-market teams will be able to compete for his services due to prior obligations. For example, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres both exceeded the $230 million CBT in 2022 according to Cots, so they remain in a position to spend but it may not be in the Judge aisle of free agency.

Similarly, the Yankees went way over the CBT this year as well. They have shown limited concern for the CBT in the past, so that will not be an obstacle in keeping Judge.

But if there is a team with more financial flexibility than the Yankees, it is the Giants. One of the reasons that Judge is such a logical fit is because the Giants have so little committed against the cap and have a massive need for star power. It makes plenty of sense on paper.

That said, the front office has not proven that it is willing to spend heavily on one target, so Giants fans might be in a wait-and-see mode.