New York Yankees Will Make A Plea To Judge Before Opening Day
Aaron Judge is arguably the New York Yankees most popular player. His All Star performance mixed with a million dollar smile help make 99 a true fan favorite. After this season, Judge is a free agent. Obviously, Yankee fans don't want to lose him and they shouldn't.
The Yankees and Judge failed to come to a pre-arbitration agreement. The 6'-7" right-fielder has said publicly that he would like to be in pinstripes for life. Pre-arbitration, the Yankees offered $17 million and Judge wanted $21 million. Judge would like a long term deal and set a soft deadline of Opening Day to discuss it.
According to Kristie Ackert of nydailynews.com, "the Yankees are preparing to make a multi-year offer to Aaron Judge, and the slugger seemed to leave the door open for more time for negotiations. Yankees GM Brian Cashman confirmed Saturday the team would make an extension offer to Judge before the April 7 Opening Day."
Ackert quoted the Yankees general manager, “between now and Opening Day, obviously, we’ve said we’ll make an offer and he’ll obviously receive an offer and all conversations will have taken place and will either resolve into a multi-year deal or won’t."
"So I’m not going to say when or what it’s going to [be] and keep people updated. Again, I’ll restate what we said before: we will commit, we will make an offer and then hear what he has to say in response and then it’ll be penciled down, obviously. Before Opening Day. I think we all understand that too,” Cashman told Ackert. Cashman fully comprehends the importance of giving Judge the respect he deserves when it comes to this subject.
Did Judge leave the door open for negotiations to go past Opening Day? Ackert quoted Judge as saying, “I’m pretty sure, but if there are negotiations, and I won’t be talking to you guys about it at all, but we haven’t decided yet. But for right now it’s firm.” I'm sure if the years and the money are going in the right direction Aaron will give the Pinstripes' front office a few extra days to get the deal done. This is great news for Yankee fans. Now hopefully the Judge decides in favor of the Bronx.