Crawford reveals Giants pulled out 'all the stops' for Judge originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
Aaron Judge spurned the Giants to return to the New York Yankees in the MLB offseason but it was not because of a lack of trying on San Francisco's part.
Brandon Crawford joined Bonta Hill and Festus Ezeli on "Warriors Live" after Golden State's 119-113 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night, and shared to what lengths the Giants went to in courting the reigning AL MVP.
"I was here for the Judge recruitment a little bit and the reason he went back to the Yankees wasn't because of the weekend he had here because it was first class," the Giants shortstop revealed. "We pulled out all the stops but he wanted to stay with the Yankees."
San Francisco offered Judge a nine-year, $360 million contract to return home to the Bay Area with the San Diego Padres offering the 30-year-old a 10-year, $400 million deal at the last minute. However, New York matched San Francisco's offer and retained the Linden, Calif. native.
The Yankees' initial offer was eight years, $320 million, and only after Judge told Hal Steinbrenner that he received larger offers from other teams did Steinbrenner agree to add an extra year and $40 million.
Despite general manager Farhan Zaidi and those around the Giants' organization's best efforts to lure Judge to the west coast, ultimately it was not enough as the slugger returned to the only team he had ever known.
And while Crawford won't be playing with Judge in the 2023 MLB season, the 36-year-old understands why Judge went back to New York.
"I don't blame him for wanting to stay with the team he grew up playing for. I've been there," Crawford concluded.
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As the Giants inch closer to the start of spring training, they have been able to add important pieces needed to stabilize the outfield like Michael Conforto and Mitch Haniger.
Still, San Francisco did its best to lure a premier free agent to the Bay Area and though it did not pan out, they still addressed areas of concern despite an odd offseason.
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