“Biggest Blunder in MLB?”: $500 Million Aaron Judge Blunder Comes Back to Haunt San Francisco Giants After Getting Sweeped by Yankees

The Yankees’ dominating victory over the San Francisco Giants draws an interesting picture. The game revolved around Aaron Judge’s two singles and Soto’s two homers following a go-ahead drive against Camilo Doval. Ultimately, the Yankees won the game, leaving the Giants clueless.

With the outstanding contributions by Soto and Judge, the Yankees cruised 7-5, defeating the Giants. Giant’s defeat has surely raised questions about President Farhan Zaidi’s past decision on Aaron Judge. Was leaving a star player like Aaron Judge a blunder, especially when they could have bought him? Dan Coccimilgio (analyst) and Farhan Zaidi (the Giants’ president of baseball operations) have stances on the controversial matter. 

Is Aaron Judge a player worth $500 million?

Since the Yankees signed Aaron Judge for $360 million on a nine-year contract, things have not gone right for the Giants. This was the third-largest deal in baseball history after Shohei Ohtani ($700 million) and Mookie Betts ($365 million). Amidst all the fan reactions over the Giants vs. Yankees game, Dan Coccimiglio has put his analyst mind on a run.

He expressed his thoughts on the game, saying, “The SFG are not relevant because the owners hired Farhan, an analytics-driven individual, instead of an aggressive visionary. The owners lack the same and really don’t know what to do, & they handed their franchise over to a nice man but not a true baseball man. Aaron Judge should’ve been offered 10 years & 500M. It was their only chance.”

Clearly, Dan Coccimilgio thinks that if Judge had been in the Giants lineup, the results could have been different. Following the Yankees and the failure of the Giants, he said, “The NYY would’ve had a hard time matching that. The Giants will never attract a superstar by simply matching. But must be way more & they have plenty of $ to do so in a sport without a true salary cap.”

Judge’s recent performance adds some weight to the analyst’s statement. In 2022, he set the American League on fire by scoring the most home runs in a single season. He achieved 62 home runs, breaking the 61-year-old record set by former Yankees player Roger Maris.

In 2024, Judge’s stats were ridiculously great. Followed by 28 May Games, Judge has hit .371, accompanying 14 home runs, 27 RBI, 12 doubles, 22 walks, and an impressive 1.415 OPS. Although the statistics don’t lie, Farhan Zaidi had a completely different view regarding Aaron Judge’s signing. 

Farhan Zaidi’s contradictory statement on Judge

The team’s failure to sign Aaron Judge, the player who could have transformed their fortunes, left Giant fans completely heartbroken. But the Giant’s president of baseball operations, Farhan Zaidi, came up with his own statement on “The Show” podcast, saying, “I don’t know if it’s a coping mechanism, but I never really believed he was going to sign here.” Zaidi laughed. 

“Like with a lot of things, you want to control your emotions. You know, baseball is so unpredictable, both with free agency and with trades. There have been so many times when I thought a trade was at the 1-yard line or 5-yard line, and it winds up not happening, so you don’t really believe something is done before it’s done,” he continued. Although Zaidi’s statements convey a different story, the fans are clearly not happy with this move. 

In the end, superstar Juan Soto is an unstoppable force, and with Judge getting better each day, the Yankees are looking stronger than ever. As for the Giants, they might have to change their bidding game. Probably, diminishing their pay cap to buy superstars in the future might change their fortune in the upcoming years.