Yankees pitch $300M, 8-year starting offer to win Aaron Judge; bidding war begins

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The New York Yankees are out with a record offer to win back their superstar slugger Aaron Judge. They have offered him “in the neighborhood” of $300 million for 8 years,  according to ESPN. However, it is the starting offer and the Yankees could offer the power hitter more if the San Francisco Giants jump into the race to outbid them.

With the MLB Winter Meetings starting in San Diego on Sunday, Aaron Judge’s market is starting to take shape. The Yankees have been very clear that they want the slugger, who won the 2022 AL MVP award, to stay in The Bronx. The 30-year-old baseball superstar had a historic season in 2022 before turning a free agent. Aaron Judge met with the Giants last week.

Hal Steinbrenner, the Yankees’ owner, has already said that he was willing to spend more money on Aaron Judge.

“I just want him to know how I felt. In case there was any lack of clarity or ambiguity,” Steinbrenner spoke to NJ.com, “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.”

After hearing about their current offer, many think Aaron Judge could sign by the end of the MLB Winter Meetings in San Diego next week. But others in baseball not connected to the team or the slugger harbor an opinion that $300 million will go up a lot, especially if the Giants start a bidding war for the most wanted free agent on the market. Earlier the Giants had made it clear that money was not an issue for them.

“The $300 [million] number has been out there and that’s what you would expect for a guy off a performance like that and everything else he brings to the table,” an AL executive told to the New York Post, “And I wouldn’t be surprised if a third team is out there — maybe already — to drive up the price.”

Considering the Yankees have offered $300 million, the potential deal could leave Aaron Judge at an annual average value of $37.5 million, which is the highest ever earning a position player has in baseball history. If the deal goes up for eight years, it would still be better than what Mike Trout got in a year. Trout makes $35.5 million per season, while Judge will make $37.5 million. However, this still falls short of $43.3 million, the highest average annual value, of the Mets’ pitcher Max Scherzer.

Aaron Judge started the season by turning down the Yankees’ seven-year, $213.5 million extension offer and then broke Roger Maris’ American League home run record and led the majors with 131 RBIs and 133 runs on his way to his first AL MVP award.

Aaron Judge, who is 30, is only a year younger than Trout. In 2022, he played 157 games. Since 2019, Trout hasn’t played in more than 119 games. This makes him a contender for a better contract than Trout.

The slugger met with the San Francisco Giants last week. Their location is close to Aaron Judge’s home and analysts think they are serious about their goal. But the Yankees hold an advantage and are out with a mega offer of $300 million to wrest the initiative in the pursuit of the player. Aaron Judge will likely get a deal that brings more money and may even be for more than nine years. That would last him until he was 39 years old.

Gerrit Cole has the most valuable contract in Yankees history, with a total value of $324 million and an average value of $36 million per year. These are two things that Aaron Judge’s team may want to surpass. He could try to beat Max Scherzer’s record for average annual value, which is $43.3 million but it looks distant for him to beat Mike Trout’s record for total contract value, which is $426.5 million.

Do agree with it? How much do you think Aaron Judge will finally get? Leave your comment below.

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