Matt Carpenter sends thoughtful message to Yankees’ Aaron Judge on MVP

While the Matt Carpenter Experience didn’t end the way anybody wanted it to, Yankees fans will still be spreading mythic tales of their own personal first-half Paul Bunyan for years to come.

And when Carpenter himself tells the story of the 2022 season, even he’ll start by sitting his grandkids down and letting them know about Aaron Judge, the gentle giant who carried the Yankees, even when everyone else sank down around him.

Built in a lab to seek and destroy baseballs while killing the New York media with kindness, Judge was justly rewarded for betting on himself with the American League MVP Award on Thursday night, winning 28 of 30 first place votes — and the sweetest reward is yet to come.

Judge’s NL counterpart was Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, whose postseason run also didn’t last long enough, but who posted a regular season for the ages. Neither race was terribly dramatic. Neither man will brag about that, though.

Both Judge and Goldschmidt are humble overlords, and Carpenter played with both of them, spending his final difficult years in St. Louis by Goldy’s side before lighting the world ablaze as Judge’s protector in the lineup. Following his friends’ landslide wins, Carpenter shared a very apt salutation and comparison between the two stars.

Yankees’ Aaron Judge, Cardinals’ Paul Goldschmidt share appropriate MVP connection

The best part about telling your grandkids Aaron Judge stories? You don’t really even need to embellish much. “He was 6-7, legs as thick as tree trunks, but he ran as quickly as Juan Pierre in pursuit of fly balls in the gap. Yeah, no, seriously. I haven’t even gotten a chance to lie about anything yet.”

Neither Carpenter nor Judge are guarantees to return to the Yankees in 2022; the former MVP seems likelier to ink a long-term contract, while rumblings are that Carpenter could try things again in St. Louis and reunite with Goldschmidt to potentially wrap up his MLB career. He was certainly shown an overwhelming amount of love in his return to The Lou this summer in the Yankees’ road grays.

Both men would be welcomed back in New York at full strength next year, though. As great as Judge was — and he was GREAT — the lineup never worked quite as well as when both men occupied it. And that missed October opportunity is really what 2022 Yankee fans might someday spend time commiserating to their grandkids about.