Yankees sign Aaron Judge to mega-deal after terrifying Giants buzz

New York Yankees fans, your long, national nightmare is over. Those 15 hours where Aaron Judge signing with the San Francisco Giants felt inevitable have wrapped up in a tidy bow, with Mitch Haniger by the Bay and a new captain in the Bronx.

Wednesday will surely be a day of celebration and details galore, as the Yankees try to extend their budget and continue on to contention by supplementing Judge’s contract. It will also likely feature a lot of clarity on one of the most shrouded free agency processes of all time.

It wasn’t just the Arson Judge tweets. It was the well-timed TIME Magazine profile, the Susan Slusser column about how the Giants/players who had agency insight believed it was a done deal, and the general feeling of confusion emanating from Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone. Hell, it was even Carlos Baerga’s tweet about Carlos Correa and Judge joining forces in San Francisco.

Did Judge ever arrive in San Diego after all? Doesn’t seem like it. Doesn’t seem like it was necessary. He’s a Yankee for life.

Yankees sign Aaron Judge — sorry, that’s Captain Aaron Judge — to 9-year deal

For 15 full hours, the tide hadn’t just turned in the other direction here. It had cascaded over the shore, washing away an entire era of Yankees baseball and unrealized potential.

Now, while waiting to unpack what led to all the Giants momentum, it sure seems like Judge did give Cashman the “shot to match” that the Yankees’ GM claimed wasn’t promised on Monday evening.

The Yankees’ deal is identical to the rumored final Giants offer leaked on Tuesday night — more robust, actually, when you factor in taxes. That is far from coincidental.

Between the hours of 8:23 EST and 8:36 EST, Jon Morosi (the Judge whisperer all along), Ken Rosenthal and Jon Heyman all put out missives reversing course here.

Seems like Michael Kay’s well-placed source was right Tuesday night. The Yankees weren’t out of it. They were just getting started.