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The New York Yankees have made it no secret that want to re-sign franchise player Aaron Judge, and word of their current offer has arrived. According to ESPN, the Yankees are offering a contract “in the neighborhood of eight years and $300 million and could increase it.” The belief is Judge could sign by the end of the MLB Winter Meetings next week in San Diego.
Judge rejected a seven-year extension worth $213.5 million in spring training, then went out and had a historic season that saw him hit an American League record 62 home runs. The two sides did not discuss an extension during the season — Judge set an Opening Day deadline for talks — though chairman Hal Steinbrenner has made it clear he wants Judge to return.
“I just want him to know how I felt. In case there was any lack of clarity or ambiguity,” Steinbrenner told NJ.com earlier this month about his recent face-to-face meeting with Judge. “We have plenty of ability to — and Aaron and I talked about this — to make this happen and still have money to make other things happen … My budget for Judge is going to be what I feel we can do. It’s not limitless, obviously. But am I going to make moves before we’re able to — in my opinion, we’re going to be able to sign Aaron. That’s not going to stop me from signing other people.”
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Judge met with the San Francisco Giants, his hometown-ish team, last week. They are said to be serious with their pursuit and, at this point, it feels like eight years and $300 million is what it’ll take just to get your foot in the door. It’s likely Judge will land a deal north of that, perhaps upward of nine years. That would take him through his age-39 season.
Gerrit Cole holds the Yankees’ franchise records for total contract value ($324 million) and average annual value ($36 million). Those are two benchmarks Judge’s camp may want to top. Judge could try to break Max Scherzer’s average annual value record ($43.3 million), though topping Mike Trout’s total contract value record ($426.5 million) won’t happen.
Judge, who turns 31 in April, authored a .311/.425/.686 batting line with those 62 home runs. He won AL MVP honors, led baseball with 10.5 WAR and became the first American League hitter with a 200 OPS+ in a full 162-game season since Hall of Famer George Brett in 1980.