Judge agrees to 1-year contract
Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees avoided an arbitration hearing Friday by agreeing to a $19 million, one-year contract, a deal that leaves the slugger on track to become a free agent after the World Series.
Unable to agree to a long-term deal in talks that ended on opening day, the sides split the difference between the proposed arbitration figures they exchanged on March 22: $21 million by Judge and $17 million by the Yankees.
Judge can make an additional $500,000 in award bonuses: $250,000 for MVP and $250,000 for World Series MVP.
“Excited that that’s that’s behind us and we can leave that portion of the show alone,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
Telephone talks resumed this week, and the sides reached the deal just before they were to exchange written evidence they intended to present during a Zoom hearing before a three-person panel scheduled to start at noon.
The slugging outfielder is in the midst of perhaps his best season of his career, batting .304 with a major league-leading 27 homers and 53 RBIs in 68 games.
Friday’s games
Dodgers 4, Braves 1: Trea Turner had three hits, including a home run, and Freddie Freeman reached base three times in his return to Atlanta.
Mets 5, Marlins 3: Francisco Lindor homered, doubled and drove in four runs to lead visiting New York past Miami.
Cubs 3, Cardinals 0: Chicago starter Kyle Hendricks pitched 7⅓ innings giving up five hits and striking out six to lead the visiting Cubs past St. Louis.
Rockies 1, Twins 0: Germán Márquez pitched 7⅔ scoreless innings and visiting Colorado edged the Twins in a rare trip to Minnesota.
Nationals 2, Rangers 1: Former Pirate Josh Bell singled to right center to score Juan Soto with the winning run in the eighth inning for visiting Washington.
Astros 3, Yankees 1: Justin Verlander pitched four-hit ball over seven innings and Kyle Tucker hit a three-run homer as Houston beat New York.
Red Sox 6, Guardians 3: Christian Arroyo hit a tworun homer in the seventh and had three RBIs in his return from the COVID-19 injured list, powering redhot Boston to a victory at Cleveland.
Royals 3, Athletics 1: Zach Greinke tossed six innings of one-run ball and Edward Olivares hit two solo homers as Kansas City beat visiting Oakland.
Orioles 4, White Sox 1: Baltimore scored on a wild pitch and a balk as the visiting Orioles took advantage of Chicago miscuues for the victory.
Notes
Toronto Blue Jays hitting coach Guillermo Martínez was suspended for five games and fined by Major League Baseball for a confrontation with umpire Doug Eddings. ... New York Mets right-hander Max Scherzer will not be activated from the injured list and start the final game of the club’s series against the Miami Marlins Sunday. ... Royals catcher Salvador Perez had surgery on his left thumb and was placed on the 10day injured list.