Yankees say Judge will have an offer by Opening Day

With 12 days left until opening day and Aaron Judge’s self-imposed deadline, the New York Yankees are preparing to make an offer to their slugger and his representatives. After failing to reach an agreement for a one-year contract for this season and potentially heading to arbitration, the Yankees have a very narrow window to try and get into agreement with the face of their franchise.

“Between now and Opening Day, obviously, we’ve said we’ll make an offer and he’ll obviously receive an offer and all conversations will have taken place and will either resolve into a multi-year deal or won’t,” GM Brian Cashman said Saturday. “So I’m not going to say when or what it’s going to [be] and keep people updated . ... I’ll restate what we said before: we will commit, we will make an offer and then hear what he has to say in response and then it’ll be penciled down, obviously. Before opening day. I think we all understand that, too.”

New York is looking to lock up Judge on a longterm extension so he won’t hit the free-agent market.

The soon-to-be 30-yearold is coming off one of his most complete years in the big leagues.

The three-time All-Star slashed .287/.373/.544 with a .916 OPS, 39 homers and 98 RBIs in 148 games in 2021 According to Baseball Savant, Judge was among the league leaders in average exit velocity (95.8 mph), max exit velo (119) and hard-hit percentage (58.4%). He also led the Yankees in WAR (5.4).

Overall, his six years in the big leagues have been exceptional, averaging .276/.386/.554 and a .940 OPS. He was the 2017 Rookie of the Year, runnerup to Jose Altuve in that same season for MVP and a Home Run Derby champion.

One major league executive suggested a five-year, $185 million deal would be where his team would be comfortable going with a player like Judge.

ELSEWHERE

MLB: Major League Baseball is asking umpires to make more random checks of pitchers for sticky substances after watching its crackdown become less effective late last season. Last season, umpires checked all starting pitchers multiple times and all relievers either at the end of his first inning or when removed, whichever occurred first. Caps, gloves and fingertips were checked.

A