Hall of Famer Derek Jeter believes Aaron Judge will be a tremendous captain for the New York Yankees: "Everything about him just screams out leader"
The New York Yankees have just named Aaron Judge their next captain. There had not been one since Derek Jeter retired in 2014, and the Hall of Fame shortstop was in attendance for the press conference which announced Judge's massive new contract and his newly minted captain status.
Derek Jeter was asked what it meant to him for Judge to be named the new captain. In typical Jeter fashion, he deflected the question back to Judge, the man of the hour.
The 15th Captain, Derek Jeter, joins @BobLorenz & @JackCurryYES to discuss Aaron Judge being named the 16th Captain of the Yankees. https://t.co/cVCbiaVhaR
Here's what he said:
"I wouldn't necessarily say what it means to me, it's what it means to Aaron. I've gotten to know Aaron a little bit better over the last few months. Everything about him just screams out leader."
He continued:
"Someone asked me about him potentially being named captain and I said, 'Well, the best way to find out is talk to his teammates, talk to the people who are around him, because it'd be unfair for me to give my opinion.'... Everyone says the exact same thing."
Judge has been the unofficial leader of the Yankees since his dominant rookie season in 2017. Six years, one MVP and $360 million later, he's officially their leader.
Was re-signing Aaron Judge enough for the Yankees?
The Yankees entered this offseason with one main goal: re-sign Aaron Judge. They achieved that goal and made a couple of other moves, but the contract extended to Judge was priority number one.
Was that enough? The team was good last year but not quite good enough. Bringing back Judge was a huge first step. Re-signing Anthony Rizzo is excellent, too.
Adding Carlos Rodon to the mix makes the team a little stronger as well, but there are still holes on the roster. Fortunately, owner Hal Steinbrenner vowed that the Yankees weren't done making moves.
There's still plenty of offseason to go, but the Yankees have more planned. With free agency's best players all but gone, there may be a few major trades in the works. It is unlikely that the current roster is the one that enters spring training in a couple of months.