If a player and manager have a good enough relationship, the topic of contracts might occasionally come up.
Not for Aaron Judge and Aaron Boone.
Judge bet on himself this offseason when he turned down a pretty decent contract offer from the New York Yankees, who he’s spent his entire career with. And with contract talks tabled until the offseason, Judge’s future in pinstripes is as uncertain as ever.
The 30-year-old is what makes the Yankees tick, and they need him to stick around. That hasn’t prompted Boone to turn into a salesman during their interactions.
“I have not had one conversation with him about the contract,” Boone said on the "Baseball Tonight with Buster Olney" podcast (11:00 mark in the player above). "We have a very strong relationship, but we have not talked contract at all. Our conversations are about our lives, our team, our teammates, what we need to be doing. I run certain things by him now and then when I’m thinking about doing something team-related, and he’s just great. He’s a great team leader."
Judge proved even in the early days of his big league career that he’s perfectly capable of being a good pro. Given his play thus far this season and the Yankees’ current run of form, that appears to be exactly how he’s approached what might have otherwise been an awkward season.
Boone never had a doubt.
"I know the person," Boone said. "I know, first and foremost, the kind of teammate he expects himself to be. And I know how much confidence he has in himself playing this game, and just the competitor that he is. If anything, this gives him a little more motivation to go out and show the world how great a player he is. But knowing his makeup, either way I knew he would be totally fine."
Even if there aren’t active negotiations, Judge’s contract is going to be a talking point for the months to come.
Just not between the player and his manager.
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