Yankees Tease More Moves After Re-Signing Aaron Judge: 'We're on the Clock'
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SAN DIEGO — When the Winter Meetings began earlier this week, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman explained that New York was "on hold," waiting for Aaron Judge to make his decision before moving forward with other free agents and trade partners.
Now that they've retained their superstar slugger—keeping Judge in pinstripes with a nine-year, $360 million deal—Cashman understands that the organization still has plenty of work to do.
"We have a lot of aspects of the roster that we need to address," Cashman said on Wednesday, hours after news of Judge's contract circulated on social media. "There’s other aspects of the roster we’re trying to address and we’ll continue to do so. We’re on the clock. We’ll obviously give [manager Aaron Boone] the best players so he can have the best team and he can do with it what he wants when spring training starts."
Boone added that Judge's contract is an "enormous boost," possibly the blow the opens the floodgates for New York.
"It hopefully allows us to go support around him, filling out the roster," Boone said.
Looking at New York's offseason to-do list, retaining No. 99 was without a question this team's No. 1 priority. The Yankees won't need to deal with this scenario anymore, but it would've taken a barrage of signings and an abundance of spending just to try and fill the shoes of a face-of-the-franchise-type player that just won a Most Valuable Player Award and hit 62 home runs. There are other holes to fill, though. New York needs to add a left fielder—unless they're comfortable with a mix of Aaron Hicks and youngster Oswaldo Cabrera—and you can never have too much pitching, especially after the departure of starter Jameson Taillon, who signed with the Cubs on Tuesday.
"We're on the clock to continue to find ways to improve the club both small and large, so we'll see where it takes us," Cashman said. "We haven't officially landed any planes. We have some lined up to be brought down but there's a lot more planes out there circling. ... There's some opportunities that exist out there and hopefully we'll find a way to secure a few of them for us that gives us a better shot."
MORE:
- Padres Made Late Run at Aaron Judge Before MVP Picked Yankees
- Aaron Judge Agrees to Record-Setting Contract With Yankees
- MLB Reportedly Used Multiple Balls Again in 2022. Did They Impact Aaron Judge’s Chase?
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