Yankees All-Star slugger Aaron Judge ‘wants to be a Yankee for life’
from Zac Wassink, with YardBarker.com/www.yardbarker.com
The New York Yankees and popular All-Star slugger Aaron Judge did not come to terms on any agreement before Tuesday’s MLB arbitration deadline and reportedly aren’t all that close. Judge, who turns 30 on April 26, can hit free agency after this season and filed for $21 million, while the Yankees offered only $17 million.
Per The Associated Press (h/t ESPN), Judge admitted to reporters Wednesday he “wants to be a Yankee for life,” wishes to finish his career with the Bronx Bombers, and, ideally, would like to avoid an arbitration hearing that would take place during the regular season that gets underway for New York on April 7.
“I think both sides, we want to come to an agreement,” Judge explained. “I know both filed numbers but that doesn’t mean the communication stops. Hopefully, we can continue to communicate and kind of find a number that works for both of us.”
According to The AP, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner and general manager Brian Cashman are open to locking Judge down via a long-term contract, but the three-time All-Star does not want to negotiate a new deal once meaningful contests begin next month.
“I’m not too happy about arbitration meetings,” Judge added. “I think both sides want to avoid that, go into that room, fight each other a little bit and bring out the boxing gloves, but I’m prepared for that.”
Judge slashed .287/.373/.544 with 39 home runs and 98 RBI across 148 regular-season games last year.