Aaron Judge to reunite with Giants, sources say

Negotiations for Aaron Judge are officially underway.

According to sources, the reigning AL MVP will meet with the Giants on Tuesday, sitting down with a club that is expected to be one of the Yankees’ biggest competitors to sign the superstar.

Judge was seen in the San Francisco area on Monday, caught on video posted by MLB Network.

“Visiting some family and friends; that’s it,” Judge said in the video when asked what he was doing in San Francisco. Pressed if he had “any fun plans” while in the Bay Area, Judge replied: “We’ve got something. Have fun.”

The Giants are the first team other than the Yankees to meet with Judge this offseason, though the Dodgers are also expected to be in the option deck. Judge grew up about 100 miles east of San Francisco, in Linden, California, so a deal with the Giants would represent something of a homecoming for the 30-year-old.

San Francisco has a lot of payroll flexibility this offseason, something president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi discussed this month at the GMs Meetings, without specifically mentioning Judge or any other player.

“Financially, there is no one that is outside of our ability to meet what we expect to be the contract demands,” Zaidi said. “It will just be a matter of mutual interest and how we put together the best possible team.”

Judge is believed to be seeking a deal of at least eight years with an average annual value of more than $40 million.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman confirmed last week that the club had made a new offer to the superstar outfielder, who turned down a $213.5 million, seven-year extension offer before the season.

“We’re in real time, so we’re on time,” Cashman said. “We’re certainly not going to beat around the bush.”

Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner recently said he has spoken with Judge on multiple occasions since the end of the season, including at least one face-to-face meeting.

“I have absolutely conveyed to him that I want him to be a Yankee for the rest of his life,” Steinbrenner told reporters at owners meetings last week. “There’s no doubt about that. He knows it.”

Late last week, Judge called his talk with Steinbrenner “a big sign for me in this process,” but that doesn’t mean he won’t explore everything free agency has to offer — including the Tuesday with the Giants.

“I don’t know how fast it’s going to go or how slow it’s going to go,” Judge said Thursday at his All Rise Foundation gala. “There are teams we’ve talked to. For me, if we’re going to build a winning team, if I can get my things out [del contrato] out of the way so they can kind of move on and add a few more pieces to build teams, I think that’s always a plus wherever I go.”