Judge: Yankees’ season has felt like ‘dragged out, painful death’

New York Yankees star captain Aaron Judge doesn’t think highly of the job the organization has done this season, describing the campaign as one of the worst he’s been a part of since debuting in 2016.

“I’ll take the ALCS losses over this year,” Judge told NJ.com’s Randy Miller. “This isn’t the agonizing one blow where you know the season’s over, but more of a dragged out, painful death. But it’s all the same. We didn’t finish it, so it’s going to be tough no matter what.”

Judge’s comments come after he called this season “a failure.” He said “a lot of things need to change” when the Yankees were mathematically eliminated from postseason contention on Sunday.

But one thing Judge doesn’t want changed is the manager. The 31-year-old spoke highly of Aaron Boone, praising the skipper for the job he’s done since taking over the helm in 2018.

“I’ve been with Boonie here since 2018. I think he’s definitely the right man for the job,” Judge said. “He knows his players. He knows how to talk to them. He knows when to push them. He knows when to have those tough conversations. I think it’s just about giving Boonie a good supporting cast, the right type of guys who are going to run through a wall for him.”

Despite a down year for the Yankees, Judge has no regrets about re-signing with the club this past offseason. He reportedly turned down more money from other clubs in free agency to continue with the team that drafted him.

“I know that I made the right decision. I knew it wasn’t going to be all sunshine and rainbows and everybody’s going to ride into the sunset and get us back to the glory days,” he said.

“I knew even throughout this season when we hit our lowest points, I was like, ‘This is what I signed up for.’ I think going through a year like this – the setbacks, injuries, bad season – it’s only going to make the time when we do get it figured out that much better. We’re really going to be enjoying those moments.”

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