Remember when Aaron “Arson” Judge nearly took his talents to the San Francisco Giants in 2022? The superstar slugger has been open about how close he was to leaving the New York Yankees for the Bay Area. Ultimately, his connection to the pinstripes led him to stay put, even leaving money on the table to do so.

Three offseasons later, the Yankees were in a similar position with Juan Soto. But they weren’t as fortunate this time, considering he joined the club’s crosstown rival, the New York Mets. The Bronx Bombers were narrowly outbid by baseball’s wealthiest owner, Steve Cohen, which could eventually haunt the organization.

However, Soto’s departure does come with one silver lining: It further highlights how undervalued Judge is, at least from a financial standpoint.

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Aaron Judge is MLB’s most undercompensated player thanks to Juan Soto

The Mets signed Soto to the largest deal in MLB history this past winter. Judge’s nine-year, $360 million contract pales in comparison to his 15-year, $765 million pact. Yet, the latter is the one putting up numbers only the late and great Babe Ruth ever has over a 162-game span:

What Judge has done from last season and into 2025 stacks up with home-run king Barry Bonds’ legendary 2022 campaign. No matter how you look at it, the reigning American League MVP has been historically good. Nonetheless, he’s getting paid less than half of what Soto’s making to represent the Mets.

Judge has led the Majors in WAR in two of the past three seasons (2022 and 2024) and currently paces the AL in said metric. His efforts this year have been vital to the Yankees only being one game worse than they were 22 games into last season. Despite losing Soto, the team is atop the leaderboard in homers and OPS and second in runs and RBIs, largely because of him.