Aaron Judge has agreed to return to the New York Yankees for the next nine seasons and $360 million, according to The Associated Press from a person familiar with the negotiations.
This person requested anonymity since the agreement has not been officially announced.
Judge will earn $40 million, the highest average annual salary for a position player. The contract is the third most lucrative in baseball, behind the US$426.5 million obtained by Mike Trout from the Los Angeles Angels and the US$365 million granted by the Los Angeles Dodgers to Mookie Betts.
The Yankees had offered $213.5 million over seven years prior to last season, a contract that would have covered the 2023-2029 seasons. He turned down the offer hours before Game 1 in April.
The six-foot-seven colossus bet on him instead. He won hands down.
Judge set an American League record with 62 home runs, leading the Yankees to the All-American East title. He also finished tied for the lead in the Majors with 131 RBIs and just missed the Triple Crown with a .311 batting average.
The Yankees, however, were swept by the Houston Astros in the All-American Championship Series. A few weeks later, Judge became the first MVP to come from the New York organization since Alex Rodriguez in 2007.
Judge’s decision will have a domino effect on several teams and free agents. His status has delayed at least a few Yankees plans, by virtue of contract size. General manager Brian Cashman had made it clear, however, that the team would wait while Judge weighed his options.
In the end, this approach proved to be the right one.
“We will wait and wait for this process to be completed,” Cashman said Monday at the winter conference in San Diego. It means staying active in negotiations and discussions. »
The 30-year-old Judge was selected in the first round of the 2013 draft by the Yankees. He made his major league debut in 2016, hitting a home run in his first at bat.
A year later, he was one of baseball’s rising stars. He averaged .284/.422/.627 with 52 home runs and 114 RBIs, en route to the All-American Rookie Award. The one who has appeared in four All-Star Games so far has 220 home runs and 497 RBIs in seven MLB seasons.
“A guy of that stature, you want him to spend his entire career in the shadow of Monument Park and enter the Hall of Fame in a Yankees uniform,” manager Aaron Boone said Tuesday.
Judge’s average annual salary is second only to the US$43.3 million per season earned by Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander with the New York Mets, although Verlander’s deal, reached on Monday, did not yet been confirmed. A source told The Associated Press that the right-hander would get $86.7 million over two years.