Opening Day being postponed gives the Yankees one more day to sign Aaron Judge to a contract extension before the season starts, and giving Brian Cashman another day to try and change the tone of the team’s offseason.
Many have considered this winter to be a flop for Cashman and company, and if an extension with Judge isn’t agreed upon by Opening Day, the Yankee slugger could very well table talks until the offseason, when he would be a free agent.
If that happens, Gio says this offseason would have to be considered among the worst of Cashman’s tenure.
“When the Yankees passed on bring free agents in the past…there was a common theme that would always come up,” Gio said during Wednesday’s show. “And that common theme was that at some point, they would have to pay big money to Aaron Judge.
“He still does not have a contract…if the Yankees and Aaron Judge cannot come up with an agreement before the first game of the season, and those contract talks go on hold until the offseason, that is just another black mark on Brian Cashman’s offseason.”
Judge said as recently as Tuesday, after New York’s final spring training game, that “After Opening Day, I got a job to do. I got something to focus on. We’ll see at the end of the year,” seemingly confirming previous comments at the start of spring training that he would focus on the season once it started, not on extension talks. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported on Saturday that the two sides weren’t close to a deal, and now, time is running out to salvage what has been an underwhelming winter for a team that comes into every season with championship aspirations, but has routinely fallen short in recent years.
“There was a flurry of excitement in what the Yankees might do this offseason after another disappointing finish, and all the players that were out there that you could have brought in, and you wind up making a trade here…you bring Rizzo back when [Matt] Olson and [Freddie] Freeman were available, you didn’t do anything to help the rotation,” Gio said. “This is just a bad offseason from Brian Cashman.
“Brian Cashman saying the only reason they haven’t been back to the World Series is the Astros cheating. Hal Steinbrenner talking about how it’s been a tough couple of years financially. This is not the Yankees. It just isn’t.”
Despite the current outlook, Boomer still has faith that Judge will be a Yankee for years to come, and Cashman’s highly-criticized offseason will be salvaged.
“I still have a really good feeling they’re gonna get something done,” Boomer said. “I’m not giving up yet.”
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