Aaron Judge has a new contract offer from the Yankees in hand, and the free-agent slugger has plenty of friends by his side.
Judge was in New York on Friday evening to host a gala for his All Rise Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to inspire children and youth to become responsible citizens by engaging them in activities that encourage reaching unlimited possibilities.
It was a star-studded event, with Judge welcoming numerous familiar faces under the city’s bright lights. The Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu, Harrison Bader and Michael King were present, as well as the Athletics’ Tyler Wade and free agents Luke Voit and Jameson Taillon.
The event was held one day after Judge won the American League Most Valuable Player Award, coinciding with Yankees general manager Brian Cashman reiterating the club’s desire to re-sign Judge.
Cashman revealed that the Yankees extended an updated contract offer to Judge, who turned down a seven-year, $213.5 million extension in March. Negotiations reopened the day after the Yanks’ elimination in the AL Championship Series, according to Cashman, who declined to provide the terms of the club’s new offer.
“We’re in real time, so we’re on the clock,” Cashman said. “We’re certainly not going to mess around. Of course we’ve made an offer since Spring Training. If it hasn’t been said clearly, [managing general partner] Hal Steinbrenner has had face-to-face [time] with Aaron Judge and I’ve engaged with his agents.”
Steinbrenner told Judge “that I want him to be the Yankee for the rest of his life.”
“The rest is up to him and his family and where they want to go from here,” Steinbrenner said. “But we’re going to do what we can, I can assure you.”
Judge said on Thursday that the chat with Steinbrenner represented “a great sign for me in this process.” Still, Judge seems intent upon enjoying the free-agent experience, aiming to meet with other clubs and determine the best fit for his future.
“I don’t know how fast it’s going to go or how slow it’s going to go,” Judge said. “There’s teams that we’ve talked to. For me, if we’re going to build a winning team, if I can get my [contract] stuff out of the way so they can kind of move on and add some more pieces to build teams up, I think that’s always an advantage for wherever I go.”