Harold Reynolds claims the Yankees almost sold Aaron Judge to the Angels

MLB Network’s Harold Reynolds claims there was a trade in spring training that would have sent Aaron Judge from the New York Yankees to the Los Angeles Angels.

Tuesday night outfielder for the New York Yankees Aaron Judge hit his 60th home run of the season, taking one away from tying Roger Maris’ record for most home runs hit in a year in the AL. With that, fans were on high alert Wednesday to see if he would hit the record-breaking homer against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

MLB Network cut the Yanks-Pirate game for judges at bats. In doing so, Harold Reynolds decided to drop an allegation that he had heard there was a deal at spring training this year that would send the judge from the Yankees to the American Angels from Los Angeles. Reynolds said the deal was “basically done.”

Harold Reynolds claims Aaron Judge’s deal with Angels was “basically done.”

When asked who the Yankees got in the deal for Judge, Reynolds said he didn’t know other than that a deal was “done.” Reynolds is told it’s something he heard and that he could be wrong, but doesn’t think he is.

Of course, no deal materialized as Judge was with the Yankees for the entire 2022 season.

Before the start of the 2022 campaign, Judge and the Yankees were unable to agree on a contract extension. General manager Brian Cashman revealed to the media that their offer is for seven years, valued at $213.5 million. Judge is slated to become a free agent by the end of the year, and not only is he on the verge of breaking the single-season AL home run record, he’s also on track to crack the Triple Crown.

In terms of the Triple Crown, Judge leads the American League with 60 home runs, 128 runs hit and a .317 batting average after the team’s 14-2 win over the Pirates on Sept. 21.

Regardless of whether there was a trade or not, Judge stayed in New York and is poised to make history before the end of the regular season. Whenever the team’s postseason run ends, he’ll hit the free hand and without a doubt become one of the highest-paid players in the league.