Aaron Judge bats leadoff Monday, making it his 53rd straight game this season. (LM Otero, AP) (LM Otero, AP)
The Aaron Judge watch is expected to kick into high gear with the start of the MLB Winter Meetings on Sunday.
And the Bombers don’t plan to go down without a fight.
The Yankees have an offer to Judge on the table that is around eight years and $300 million, according to ESPN. This would make him the highest-paid position player in the history of baseball in terms of average annual value.
The Yankees are willing to increase the offer depending on how the market shapes up for Judge, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Reports have also indicated that No. 99 seems likely to sign by the end of the four-day gathering in San Diego.
Reports on the talks between the Yankees and Judge have been relatively quiet to this point, just as Hal Steinbrenner wanted.
“I’m not going to allow this negotiation to play out in the media. We’ve had several conversations, and they were all positive conversations, he and I, just the two of us,” the Yankees owner said at the MLB Owners’ meetings in midtown Manhattan on Nov. 16. “I’m not going to get into our conversations and what they are, but he’s a very important part of this team.
The other known suitor for Judge is the Giants and their offer — or if they have even made an offer — is unknown at this time. San Francisco has long been rumored to be a potential landing spot for Judge. The current AL MVP grew up in Linden, Calif., which is about two and a half hours away from San Francisco, as a fan of the Giants.
Judge, 30, a homegrown Yankee, is a free agent and was named AL MVP after he slashed .311/.425/.686 with an AL single-season record 62 homers and 131 RBI, adding to his stellar resume as he was about to hit the open market.
The right fielder turned down a seven-year, $213.5 offer from the Yankees prior to the start of the ‘22 campaign. At the time, it was seen by many as a fair offer, however, his remarkable season surely upped the price tag.
Judge seemingly was unhappy with the fact that GM Brian Cashman announced the exact figures of the offer that he turned down. However, Steinbrenner does not believe that there is any bad blood from that situation.
“In the conversations we’ve had, it has not come up,” Steinbrenner said. “It might, but I will explain to him that it was my call, be mad at me.
“It’s something I approved when [Brian] Cash[man] brought it to me. Aaron and I have not discussed that. But it’s something I definitely approved. I approve everything. I think Cash’s idea was, it’s going to get out anyway, let’s be transparent about it so the correct information gets out there to our fans.”
With their franchise player being courted, Cashman and wasted no time in trying to put the AL home run king back in pinstripes and confirmed that they have indeed made an offer.
“Yeah, [we’ve made an offer] we’re in real-time,” said Cashman during the Covenant House Sleep Out event at Silverstein Family Park on Nov. 19. “We’re on the clock. We’re certainly not going to mess around. Of course, we’ve made another offer, we’ve made offers since spring training.
“In the early stages of free agency, our first conversations with Aaron Judge started the day after our season ended. So we’re serious, we’ve always said we were.”
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Originally published at Tribune News Service