Should the Miami Marlins pursue Aaron Judge?!

Did the title make you laugh or shake your head in disbelief? A decade ago the Miami Marlins almost gave out the biggest contract in MLB history, but Albert Pujols took less for a no-trade clause. We can spend money, our owner said so himself. We NEED to spend it too. Forget the idea that The Fish can’t afford stars, should the Miami Marlins pursue Aaron Judge in free agency this year?!

Aaron Judge could be a Miami Marlin next season.

Aaron Judge is having an AL MVP season. He is batting .304/.396/.681 with 45 home runs and 99 RBI in 108 games and 408 AB’s. These are monster numbers and he also has a 6.9 WAR on top of this. The superstar slugger is also a merchandise machine and arguably the most popular player in the Major Leagues.

Aaron Judge’s advantages are plenty… he has power, walks a lot, doesn’t strike out as much as he used to and even has some speed. Perhaps amazingly he can not only play RF, but has been adequate playing CF for the New York Yankees! I’m not sure if a lot of teams will want Aaron Judge in CF, but that’s an option.

Aaron Judge does have negatives to go along with his positives…he is already 30 years old and has quite an injury history. Despite playing his first full season in 2017, he was only able to play at least 120 games in 2017, 2021 and potentially this season. In the shortened 2020 season, he still played in only 28 of the 60 games. This is pretty concerning to say the least.

Aaron Judge is likely looking at a 7 year deal and can command $30+ million a year. That’s a lot and there’s some serious risk already. Would it be worth giving him a monster contract to be the Miami Marlins’ middle of the order bat for the next decade?

Bruce Sherman can spend if he wants to, and if he does then Aaron Judge is definitely in the cards. Do I expect the Miami Marlins to sign him? No. Do I think that we will sign him? No. Do I think that we SHOULD sign him? Probably not just because of the risks. As great as he is, the risks are just too high for our Fish, so my “Judge”ment is a no.