Judge gets record $360M to stay

Free-agent MVP lands nine-year deal

S AN DI E GO Aaron Judge has issued his ruling: Court remains in session in the Bronx.

Judge is staying with the New York Yankees on a nine-year contract worth $360 million (U.S.), the biggest free-agent deal in baseball history. A source familiar with the negotiations confirmed the deal, on the condition of anonymity because the team had yet to make a formal announcement.

New York general manager Brian Cashman credited the role of Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner in talks with the American League MVP, while referencing Hal’s late father George.

“I’ve been here a long time,” said Cashman, Yankees GM since 1998 and recently re-signed for four more years, “and I know how George Steinbrenner did business and how he went about doing business, in recruiting free agents and retaining free agents, and he was intimately involved. And I saw a lot of that in this process, too.”

Cashman added that he didn’t get any sleep Tuesday night. He texted with Judge, who turns 31 in April, and Hal Steinbrenner and manager Aaron Boone spoke with the slugger on the phone.

“I wanted to talk to him and make sure he knew, certainly, how I felt about him, but how we felt about him, too,” Boone said.

Judge, who hit an American League-record 62 homers last season, will earn $40 million per year, the highest average annual payout for a position player. The contract trails only Mike Trout’s $426.5-million deal with the Los Angeles Angels and Mookie Betts’s $365-million pact with the Los Angeles Dodgers for biggest in baseball history, both signed as extensions.

Before his MVP campaign, the Yankees offered Judge $213.5 million over seven years from 2023-29. The outfielder turned it down in the hours before opening day.

The six-foot-seven Judge bet on himself — and won.

Judge surpassed Roger Maris’s AL home run mark while powering New York to an AL East title. He also tied for the major-league lead with 131 RBIs and just missed a Triple Crown with a .311 batting average.

New York was swept by Houston in the AL Championship Series, but Judge became the Yankees’s first AL MVP since Alex Rodriguez in 2007.

“He’s an amazing player and an amazing person that certainly has the respect of everyone in that room,” Boone said, “and guys look to him — look up to him.”

Judge will get $146.5 million more than the Yankees offered before the season, and an extra two guaranteed seasons.

The Northern California native also visited with the San Francisco Giants last month.