“It Was So Hard”: Tampa Resident Aaron Judge Reveals How Rays’ “Surprised” Him With a $300 Million Offer in 2022

Aaron Judge‘s loyalties lie only with the New York Yankees. The Bronx Bombers are the only team that the California native has played for in his professional life and it seems he will remain wearing the classic pinstripes in the foreseeable future. However, if one recalls, already 20 months ago there was a lot of enthusiasm for Judge’s free agency exit from NYC.

Soon after Judge broke the AL home run record for a single season with 62, a few well-known rivals, such as the San Francisco Giants and the San Diego Padres, reached out during the 2022 offseason. Some may find it shocking to know that the Tampa Bay Rays, also from the AL East, also attempted to sign the powerful hitter.

According to Kristie Ackert, a journalist for The Tampa Bay Times, the Rays seemed to have been receptive to offering Judge a hefty deal of around $300 million for 10 years. Though Judge was flattered by the offer, he could not imagine leaving the Yankees.“It was a very respectful (offer), and I appreciated that they reached out and that they thought enough of me to do that. And I respect their team. I respect what they have built here. They have a good club, and their team is tough,” mentioned Judge.

He expected the Padres and the Giants but the Rays shooting their shot, even if they knew it was unlikely Judge would accept, was a kicker. He signed a new contract to play nine more years in New York for $360 million, continuing his career in the city he began in. “It was so hard to think about (playing for the Rays), because I’ve spent my whole career game-planning against them and trying to beat them,” Judge said.  This could have also been intended to attract more fans to the games.

The Rays had been banking on the fact that Judge and his wife Samantha stay part time in Tampa and pulled in more tickets for the new stadium they’re building. “I go to the hockey games at (Amalie Arena) in the offseason and see the support they get there. I just hope that the Rays can get a stadium that will help them get that kind of support,” he said, per The Times. “They have had a really good team for a couple of years now. I hope it works out for them.”

This is quite peculiar and fascinating that the Rays are willing to spend such a huge amount of money on one player, as they tried to do with Freddie Freeman in 2022. Now Aaron Judge is going to compete against Tampa Bay once again. The game is set to take place at 6:50 p.m. ET on Wednesday as the series moves forward. During Tuesday’s series opener, the Rays were able to limit Judge to just one hit and one walk, resulting in a 5-3 victory.

Interestingly, while the Captain had no intentions of moving to the AL East rival, he is taking inspiration from another Tampa Bay legend, just from football.

Like Tom Brady, Aaron Judge wants to play till he’s 40

The star player of the Yankees has already agreed to continue his career with the team and recently expressed his desire to play in MLB for many more years to come. He would like to draw inspiration from top professional athletes such as Tom Brady and LeBron James. On the Casa de Klub podcast , Judge said he has a lot of respect for Brady and James, who are able to perform at a high level in their chosen sport even at the age of 40s.

“I think they kind of paved the way where it’s like, man, I want to play till I’m 40. Like I want to be able to play until, hey, you know what, I’m done with this game. I gave it everything I could and like I’m at peace with it,” said Judge.

Tom Brady started playing in the NFL in 2000, whereas the Los Angeles Lakers player began his NBA journey in 2003 after being drafted. Both of them have shown outstanding performances in their respective fields with their teams throughout their careers. While Brady retired at 45, and James has no plans of moving away from basketball at 39 just yet, Aaron Judge has a lot left in the tank at 32!