Aaron Judge seems to be improving his free agent stock by the day, as he currently leads the league in home runs and is on pace to break the Yankees’ single-season record.
He has also indicated that he is done talking contract extensions with the Yankees now that the season is in full swing after turning down a deal that would have paid him $30.5 million per year, but Jon Heyman says Brian Cashman and the Yanks should try to resume talks and come back with a bigger offer.
“I would just throw in the towel and give him the $36 million,” Heyman said on his podcast The Show with Joel Sherman. “I’d add seven years…I’d make that offer and see how that goes.
“At this point, it’s really hard to argue that he should get less than $36 million. They’ve already paid [Gerrit] Cole $36 million. He’s a free agent to be. He is the biggest star on the team…arguably the biggest star in the sport at the moment. To me, he should be paid the highest for a position player.”
Judge reportedly was looking for a deal closer to $36 million in the offseason, and wanted more length on his deal than the seven years he was offered by the Yanks. Judge has consistently stayed healthy since the start of last season, and has been one of the most valuable players in the game when healthy for his entire career. Given recent contracts given out to less productive players like Corey Seager and Carlos Correa, Heyman says the AAV of $36 million would be justified for the face of the most recognizable franchise in the sport.
But that doesn’t mean Judge would even accept his initial counteroffer at this point, considering how he’s performed since those talks stalled.
“He offered them this before the year. Now he’s on pace for 63 home runs,” Heyman said. “He may raise that. It could be a moving target. He hasn’t said ‘I would take the $36 million no matter what.’ He’s just said he should be paid with the highest paid players in the game. At this point, I think he’s right.”
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