Aaron Judge gets recruiting refresher from Brian Cashman

TAMPA, Fla. — Aaron Judge knew something was up when he got a call from Brian Cashman on Wednesday night.

Judge said Cashman was reaching out to remind him that Major League Baseball frowns on players recruiting other players to join their teams. The call was prompted by Judge’s comment to a small group of reporters on Wednesday that he told Orioles shortstop Manny Machado, “You’d look good in pinstripes.”

Machado, one of baseball’s top young players, will be a free agent after the season. Players are not bound by rules about tampering like club officials are, but that doesn’t mean MLB likes it.

Judge smiled sheepishly on Thursday and said, “Cashman called me briefly and spoke about it. Gave me a refresher that MLB’s sensitive to that kind of stuff. That’s about it.”

Judge said he made the comments to Machado on the field before an exhibition game in Sarasota. Judge said Machado laughed and did not respond.

It’s more common in other sports (such as the NBA) for players to openly talk about recruiting players from other teams to play with them.

“I don’t know about other guys, but it just came up in passing,” Judge said. “Now I know. Got a little refresher. Learn something new every day.”

Judge is one of baseball’s biggest stars, but that didn’t stop MLB from admonishing him in a statement released on Wednesday night.

“We have been in contact with the Yankees. They communicated to us that Mr. Judge’s off the cuff comments were not appropriate and not authorized by the club. They will speak to him to make sure that this does not happen again.”

Said Judge: “The convo with Cash was maybe 30 seconds. He said, ‘Hey, here’s a reminder that MLB’s sensitive to this. You can’t do this. Have a good night.’ And I said, ‘All right. See you tomorrow.’ ”

Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL, for the sports department. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.

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