There is no doubt about it now that Aaron Judge made the right call to bet on himself this season, but now it’s a matter of whether or not that payday will be coming from the New York Yankees.
The pending free agent and potential AL MVP has put the onus on the Yankees to make him an offer he can’t refuse and the Yankees certainly will try, according to team president Randy Levine.
Levine, appearing on the New York Post’s “The Show with Joel Sherman & Jon Heyman” podcast (22:30), would not delve into specifics but made it clear that the team was interested in bringing Judge back.
“We love Aaron Judge. We think Aaron Judge is an all-time Yankee,” Levine said. “We think he’s a great player. Beyond a great player. We think he’s a great person. That’s why we offered him the highest-position player contract in the history of the Yankees.
“I admire him that he took this upon his shoulders. We’ll sit down with him and figure it out.”
Of course, that does not necessarily mean a deal will get done and Levine acknowledged that.
“It’s a negotiation,” Levine said. “We’ll talk about with him and his representatives this offseason: how do we keep him? Then it will be up to him. Does he want to stay here? Does he want to go some place else? Is somebody offering him a better deal?
“I think it will be extraordinarily competitive. I think Hal has been competitive. … It’s never been a question of not wanting Aaron Judge. We think he’s one of the best players in baseball and just a question of getting to yes.”
Prior to the season, the Yankees offered Judge a seven-year $213.5 million contract extension that would take him into his age-38 season.
But, with Judge at 54 home runs on Sept. 6 and possibly winning the AL MVP, he may end up commanding much, much more than that and could become a question of how high the Yankees are willing to go.
Of course, Judge will be 31 next year and has had injury issues in the past — although he has proven to be durable the last two seasons — and the Yankees could be staring at a hefty back end of that deal.
On the other hand, Judge is arguably the only reason why the Yankees are in playoff position this season and his presence only helps their chances in winning a World Series — a feat that has not been accomplished since 2009.
Needless to say, things will be awfully interesting around Judge this offseason.
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