Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge was already going to be highly sought after this offseason as the All-Star was unable to reach an agreement on a contract extension with the club in spring training.
The impending price for Judge has only escalated after a historic season in which he hit 62 regular-season home runs to break Roger Maris’s American League record. Judge also drove in a league-best 131 RBI and narrowly missed out on the American League triple crown by hitting .311 to Minnesota infielder Luis Arraez’s .316.
The Yankees are hoping to retain their star outfielder, but general manager Brian Cashman knows it will be no easy task.
“There’s a pot of gold there,” Cashman said. “It’s yet to be determined what the gold— how much it weighs—but it’s a pot of gold, no doubt about it. So good for him. It was already a big pot and, obviously, it’ll be bigger.”
The four-time All-Star and face of the Yankees’ franchise will have no shortage of options, but Cashman made it clear he plans on trying to keep him in New York.
“He’s put himself in an amazing position to have a lot of choices,” Cashman said. “And clearly, obviously, we’d like to win the day on that discussion, and that’s obviously for another day. But we said that before the season. We said it many times during the season. If you need to hear it again, I’ll say it again. Yeah, of course we’d love to have Aaron Judge back as a New York Yankee, but that’s all for another day.”
The Yankees will have exclusive rights to negotiate a new contract with Judge through the first 15 days following the World Series. If an agreement isn’t reached by that time, he will be eligible to sign with any team.
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