Yankees: Liam Hendriks’ IG comment proves Aaron Judge still owns him

New White Sox closer Liam Hendriks still has an axe to grind with Yankees star Aaron Judge.

The Chicago White Sox made another powerful move this week, signing the market’s top closer Liam Hendriks to a four-year contract and showing the Yankees they intend to be the only American League team that improves this offseason.

Bummer.

But just because the White Sox are trying to bypass the Yankees does not mean their new acquisition can get the team off his mind.

Though Hendriks had a phenomenal 2020 after an excellent 2019, firmly removing himself from the precipice of a DFA and getting that big bag, the righty will forever be known in Yankees lore as A’s manager Bob Melvin’s inexplicable choice to start the 2018 win-or-go-home AL Wild Card Game.

Aaron Judge famously greeted the righty rando with a behemoth home run into the left-field bleachers. And, based on Hendriks’ Instagram comment from Tuesday morning, he’s still shook thinking about getting lit up in that embarrassing moment.

If Hendriks is still affected by the Judge bomb that occurred two years ago to drop a Cat Emoji on us, then maybe he wasn’t fit for a big free agent deal in the Bronx in the first place?

And maybe the Yankees should keep this in mind if they ever have to, say, face the Sox with a World Series berth on the line? That’s certainly the goal of each franchise over the course of the next few years. Seems like our team has the mental edge.

What’s that? You’d very much like to see the Judge home run again?

We’ve got your back.

Of course, this 2018 Yankees team went on to lose to the juggernaut Red Sox, torpedoed when Luis Severino forgot the start time for Game 3 of the ALDS — and also hurt by David Price giving way to literally anyone else on the mound.

But this Hendriks moment will last forever — especially in the cavernous mind of Hendriks himself.

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