Aaron Judge, Yankees Settle Deal for 2022

New York –Aaron JudgeHe was at the center of a Yankee Stadium celebration on Thursday night, surrounded by jubilant teammates after a landslide victory in the game to seal a difficult and meaningful victory over the Astros.

By Friday afternoon, Judge and the Yankees seemed ready to celebrate another win. A judge and the Yankees have agreed to a $19 million contract for 2022, to avoid an arbitration hearing, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Finsand. The team did not confirm.

The deal contains incentives that include $250,000 if the judge is voted MLS Player of the Year, plus $250,000 if he is named World Player of the Year.

Judge and Yankees were splitting $4 million. The judge and his agent, Page Odle, were willing to defend his value at $21 million, while the club offered $17 million.

“For me, it’s plain and simple,” the judge said earlier this week. “I love this team, I love this organization and everything. But there’s a commercial aspect that I don’t like sometimes. I don’t think the team likes doing that. You just have to go through it, deal with it, and then move on.”

The 30-year-old judge has MVP-caliber campaign MVP and owns a .304/.379/.658 slash, with 27 home runs in the Major League and 58 points in 68 games.

In his last tournaments, judge lockout The Yankees’ comeback capped a 7-6 win over Houston on Thursday night. However, the potential judging hearing will not include arguments from this season, focusing only on the judge’s performance from 2021 and earlier.

Avoiding the hearing appears to be a wise decision for both sides. The judge had planned to don a sharp suit and sign in for the Zoom meeting scheduled to begin at noon Friday, likely to be in the Yankees’ lineup later in the evening against Houston.

The judge said he hopes to be a “Yankee for life”, and the club remains interested in hiring the judge for a long-term extension, although the Yankees are believed to be complying with the outside player’s request for all talks until after the season. When he can make offers as a freelancer.

The judge said he did not believe the status of his contract affected his playing.

“I’m not really motivated by that kind of thing,” the judge said. “I’m more excited about the kind of team we have, the special talent we have here and the opportunity that’s in front of us. I try to stay focused on that, and that makes it very easy to block these other things while ruling out the commercial aspect.”

The Yankees have not participated in a judging session since 2017, when they defeated loyalist Dellin Betances, who sought $5 million and received $3 million. Before that, their last case was in 2008, when they beat right hand Shen Ming Wang.