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Sign Up NowIf there were such a thing as a five-week MVP, Aaron Judge would win it. Of the American League. Of the major leagues. Of the universe.
It is hard to play better for a sustained period than Judge has through 33 games. He is hovering above the sport, going so brilliantly that an 0-for-10 would take him all the way down to a .400 batting average.
And so I offer this with hesitancy and trepidation — that Judge is the Most Valuable Player of nearly any category you could imagine. But Max Fried is the Most Valuable Yankee right now. Well, you really have to lean on the “Valuable” part of that because context is everything.
Had the Yankees re-signed Juan Soto rather than used their biggest chunk of offseason money on Fried, I think they would be in worse shape right now. The Yankees came out of spring training down three starters — Gerrit Cole for the season, Luis Gil until at least June and Clarke Schmidt for three weeks. When Schmidt returned, Marcus Stroman went off the rotation grid. And the Yankees basically have no further depth at Triple-A that doesn’t feel Independent League desperate.