Brian Cashman confirmed on Friday that the Yankees and Aaron Judge will not reach an agreement on a contract extension before the Opening Day deadline, meaning the face of the franchise will indeed reach free agency.
“Unfortunately, we’ll be in a one-year setting on a yet-to-be-determined number,” Cashman said. “We had extended conversation over the last three weeks or so…but we were unsuccessful in concluding a multi-year pact.
“Obviously, our intent is to have Aaron Judge stay as a New York Yankee moving forward, and I know that’s his intent as well, which is a good thing.”
The bad thing, though, is that the Yanks and Judge will now have to try and reach a one-year salary agreement before an arbitration hearing, and then resume contract talks after the season, after Judge turned down an eight-year deal near $230 million.
“For full transparency,” Cashman said. “Final effort was trying to buy out seven years of free agency at $30.5 million a year on top of the final season of arbitration. Total would be an eight-year deal, seven free agent years at $30.5, plus the 17 or 21 in this final season.”
Now, attention shifts to the 2022 season, which could suddenly be Judge’s last year with the Yankees, which would be a disastrous outcome for New York, which believes it put forth its best offer to lock up its face of the franchise.
“We’re gonna be entering those efforts in a new arena, which will be at the end of the season, when free agency starts,” Cashman said. “Maybe that will determine what his real market value would be, because we certainly couldn’t agree at this stage on a contract extension.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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