Yankees 'bosses' getting upset with Aaron Judge demand is latest sign of dysfunction

Let's call it like it is: Aaron Judge repeatedly insisting that he was in better shape than Aaron Boone was portraying all postseason long was weird. It got weirder when Brian Cashman went on record that using Judge in the ALDS "wasn't a choice," as he was too compromised to participate; Judge pushed back on that notion as well.

And yes, no matter what they say, it was also odd that he didn't appear in pregame intros before the Yankees' Wild Card battle with the Red Sox. "I think he was getting treatment stuff," Boone explained in the aftermath.

After the Yankees' elimination, Judge provided mostly platitudes amid the injury pushback. When pressed about his desire to go "all in" and whether the Yankees have fulfilled it, he did hesitate a bit, but then dropped a fairly non-controversial semi-banger.

“It’s tough to say,” Judge responded. “I want to trade for everybody, sign everybody every single year, but I know that’s not realistic. So they give us a winning team every single year, but that’s not good enough here in New York. We’re the Yankees. You’ve got to go out there and chase championships and go all in every year. So I’m excited to see what they do.”

The Yankees' brass didn't find it as "non-controversial" as we did, though. According to Jon Heyman, "Yankee bosses" weren't thrilled by Judge's characterization of the Yankees' spending around him. Those "bosses" believed that they'd done Judge's bidding by bringing Cody Bellinger home at the price he cost.

Aaron Judge's war of words with Yankees executives is now back in his court

It was Judge who said, "I hope we can run them back" regarding both Bellinger and Trent Grisham after the Yankees' elimination in 2025, and the Bellinger cold war seemed like it would be inevitably resolved in large part because of Judge's presence and preferences (he was also the right fit, and the Yankees' outfield would've been barren without him).

But Judge's comments this time around weren't heightened much above the generic "We're the Yankees, and we have to win" level. If team executives were frustrated by his insinuation that what we just saw wasn't good enough, then we have a problem here.

Then again, certain Yankees perceived as Judge favorites over the years either overstayed their welcomes or were given outsized roles past the point of expiration (Alex Verdugo).

Regardless, the ball is now in Judge's court as this bizarre battle of leaks continues into an offseason where the Yankees can ill afford in-fighting, especially with a lockout threatening to close off primary sources of communication.

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