Aaron Judge's performance this season has been unreal.
With 36.4% of the New York Yankees' schedule and 37.3% of the overall MLB regular-season slate in the books, Judge is the overall leader in fantasy points with 260 (23 points clear of the next-closest player), Wins Above Replacement (4.7), batting average (.387), on-base percentage (.485), slugging percentage (.757), OPS (1.242), OPS+ (248), hits (86), total bases (168) and intentional walks (12). He's also second in runs scored (55), third in home runs (21) and fourth in RBI (50).
Some fantasy managers -- admittedly, this columnist included -- had lingering concerns about Judge's past injury history and/or his penchant for strikeouts, but he's a decidedly different player in 2025 than he was in the seasons that preceded this one. On the topic of injuries, if not for the fluky incident where he collided with the poorly designed right field fence at Dodgers Stadium on June 3, 2023 -- costing him the Yankees' next 42 games -- Judge would have played in 567 of their last 590 contests (postseason included), or 96%. That's a quite decent track record of durability.
Additionally, among Judge's most significant improvements at the plate, he's a much better hitter in two-strike counts this season, taking more of a shortened-swing approach and trading power in those situations, than he was previously. His numbers in these counts bear it out:
2016-24: .190 BA, 48.0 K%, 94.8 mph EV, 56.7 HH%
2025: .225 BA, 42.6 K%, 93.5 mph EV, 45.2 HH%
The sum of the parts has Judge on pace for 714 fantasy points, which would be more than anyone has scored as a hitter alone since Barry Bonds totaled 730 in 2004. If you add any major projection system's rest-of-year Judge numbers to what he has so far, he'd easily clear a .320 batting average and 50 home runs, which would result in only the 15th season in history that reached both of those thresholds, as well as make him only the third player ever to do so in back-to-back seasons (Babe Ruth, in both 1920-21 and 1927-28; Sammy Sosa, 2000-01).
So, why would any fantasy manager rationally trade Aaron Judge?
It's simple: It's our responsibility to always seek ways to improve our teams, and regardless of the greatness of any individual player in any single year, there's a valuation point at which a trade makes more sense than staying the course. Furthermore, some fantasy teams wind up being top-heavy, having Judge but not much depth at other positions, making a dispersal-style trade rational -- for the right price.
In ESPN standard leagues, a Judge trade is supremely challenging. Our own projections model has him as a $69 earner over the remainder of the season and scoring 49 more fantasy points than any other hitter alone. Considering the nature of such shallow-depth formats, superstar caliber players are regarded as precious. A Judge trade demands a huge haul, greatly improving other roster areas in exchange.
With all that in mind, let's take a stab at it. Here are a few trades I'd make in our format, if you're fielding Judge trade offers and/or seeking to cash in his chip:
Trade Judge for... Shohei Ohtani
Ahhhh, we begin with the age-old question: Who is better, Judge or Ohtani? Judge has that aforementioned 23-point margin over Ohtani thus far, despite the latter's lead in home runs (23-21), and his outfield eligibility compared to Ohtani's DH-only status provides a slight flexibility advantage. Ohtani, however, is inching ever closer to pitching once again and, during the preseason, when he appeared to be ticketed for a more sizable pitching role than he'll ultimately receive in 2025, he enjoyed a massive projections advantage over Judge -- a 231-point margin, to be exact.
This deal pushes the question, how much do you expect Ohtani will pitch in 2025? I'm thinking 50 innings, or roughly 10 starts, but that's plenty for him to hurdle Judge over the remainder of the year. In ESPN standard leagues, with its daily transactions model, that's still a sizable advantage, even if not quite as much as it seemed in March. That said, considering Ohtani carries more risk between the two at this stage -- the prospect of pitching-related injury setbacks, or potentially not pitching at all -- what intrigues in an offer like this is the possibility that you could coax a throw-in, along with Ohtani, into such a deal.
Trade Judge for... Tarik Skubal and Jackson Chourio
If you're trading fantasy baseball's best hitter, wouldn't it make sense that the return would include fantasy baseball's best pitcher? Fantasy managers who would even conceive of the idea of trading Judge away might only do so if they have a significant pitching roster shortcoming, and Skubal can sure provide them a boost in that department, having scored 36 more fantasy points than any other pitcher in the game since his July 4, 2023 return from flexor tendon surgery.
Judge, however, has outscored Skubal by 39 fantasy points since that date and projects to outscore the left-hander over the remaining four months of 2025 since pitchers don't accumulate the volume to drive points-league scoring like they did a half-decade ago. So, it would require an intriguing second piece to get a deal done. An up-and-comer who has disappointed thus far but that can slide directly into Judge's lineup spot, like Chourio, would be a match.
Note: The second player here, again, should have the caliber of upside that might vault him into the game's top-50 overall performers. Think Wyatt Langford, Jazz Chisholm Jr. or Brent Rooker types.
Trade Judge for... Bobby Witt Jr. and Cristopher Sanchez
At first glance, Witt might not seem far off Judge's valuation on his own, especially considering that the Kansas City Royals star nabbed all 30 second-place votes behind Judge's unanimous MVP win last season. But take a closer look: Judge's contact-oriented improvements have significantly narrowed the gap in points-based fantasy leagues, as he has only 10 more total strikeouts than Witt and only a slightly higher K rate between the two (21.8% to Witt's 18.0%). Considering Judge's advantages in terms of home runs and walks, as well as both his home ballpark and the lineup that surrounds him, it's not as close as you might think.
That said, Witt remains an excellent, and among the most reliable, fantasy shortstops in the game. And at age 25 (which he'll turn on June 12), he's quite likely to improve his offensive numbers within range of his 2024 marks. He's the type of premium talent you need demand in a Judge trade, and it's rational to seek a top-100 caliber player -- a locked-in, "you'll never drop him" secondary piece -- like Sanchez, or perhaps MacKenzie Gore.
Trade Judge for... Garrett Crochet and Corbin Carroll
This may be the most controversial of the trade proposals, but a team lacking in depth might do well to swap Judge for a pair of promising youngsters for whom the rest-of-season projections are divided, with candidates like Elly De La Cruz, Paul Skenes and Gunnar Henderson also being viable subs. On the surface, such an offer seems wholly unrealistic since a closer look reflects that Judge is on pace to outscore any of those hitters by at least 184 fantasy points and either pitcher by at least 93, with the projections in agreement that those margins should hold.
Trade Judge for... Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Joe Ryan
I considered putting Spencer Schwellenbach in here in Ryan's place, but... I've written ad nauseam about Schwellenbach this season and beyond that, Schwellenbach might be slightly too aggressive a pitching target in such a deal. That said, give it a shot, if you're in agreement with my Schwellenbach optimism.
Guerrero has disappointed thus far, as he's only on pace for 421 fantasy points. Still, he has averaged 486 over the previous four seasons, with two of those ending up over 500. His inclusion affords some creativity in combination with the pitcher requested.
Trade Judge for... Jackson Merrill, Ketel Marte and Shea Langeliers
A deal that could help any team severely lacking in hitting depth, acquiring the underrated Merrill and Marte has the chance at delivering a fantasy team at least two players with top-half of value in ESPN standard leagues (in other words, top-80 overall in our 16-player lineups). Merrill is a .302/.343/.448 hitter in the 24 games since his return from a hamstring injury, while Marte has hit .280/.402/.634 with 10 home runs in the 26 games since recovering from his own hamstring strain. They're currently ranked 13th and 14th, respectively, in Statcast's Barrel rate, and Marte has a better-than-50% hard-hit rate, just as he did in 2024.
Since you're not getting any "superstars" back in the deal, it couldn't hurt to try and shore up some other weak area in your lineup by asking for a third piece. Langeliers is a catcher who plays in a good hitter's ballpark and he could be a sneaky power source.