When the offseason started, the first thing on the New York Yankees agenda was re-signing Aaron Judge.
That was probably the hardest thing to achieve, so the club started doing other assignments, like re-signing Anthony Rizzo.
The first baseman got his multi-year contract, and then started heavily recruiting Judge to come back to the Bronx.
He even resorted to “Judge’s heart”, as the slugger himself put it: his dog.
Look at this amazing story.
“@ARizzo44 was calling and texting @TheJudge44 daily to make sure he stayed with the @Yankees,” The Tonight Show tweeted.
.@ARizzo44 was calling and texting @TheJudge44 daily to make sure he stayed with the @Yankees. #FallonTonight pic.twitter.com/v5Zqch7THx
—The Tonight Show (@FallonTonight) January 24, 2023
Judge told how Rizzo was a big factor in his decision to return.
Sure, the $360 million over nine years helped a lot, too, but Judge reportedly had bigger offers on the table and chose to return.
He is very good friends with Rizzo, who the first baseman reminded him every day.
However, their dogs are also best friends.
Yes, like you read it: Judge’s Penny and Rizzo’s Kevin used to roam freely at Yankee Stadium and have been pictured together several times.
This whole development had at least some weight in Judge’s decision to run it back with the Yankees.
Between the two sluggers, they hit 94 home runs in the 2022 season.
That’s almost as many as some teams in MLB.
The Yankees’ offense heavily relies on these two men to produce runs.
Since there weren’t any major additions to the offense besides bringing them back, they are expected to carry most of the load again in 2023.
Yankee fans can go ahead and thank Rizzo…and Kevin.