Have to wait to negotiate with the judge

Don’t expect the Yankees to sign a contract extension with Aaron Judge this 2022 amid the slugger and the team’s amazing season.

Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner made the announcement during a Zoom conference call on Wednesday, while more questions loom over the future of the Bombers’ biggest star, who will become a free agent at the end of this campaign.

“Regardless of what happens this season, we will not make any further statements about the situation,” Steinbrenner said. “We won’t do that. I totally agree with Aaron that this can’t be a distraction in any way.”

Judge and his representatives have been negotiating with the Bronx group for a possible extension. No agreement was reached, and the judge said he was “disappointed”.

“I’ve made it no secret that I want to be a member of the Yankees for life,” Judge said in April. “I want to give New York a title. I want to do it for the fans here. They’re part of the family. It’s my home and it’s unfortunate that we didn’t cut something. But I have to do my job on the floor. Now I have to take care of all that and play.”

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told the media that the contract arbitrator rejected was seven years and $213.5 million. There are few cases where a club will announce the details of a deal that hasn’t been finalised, but Steinbrenner said the information would have come to light anyway and the team wanted to be “as clear as possible”.

A few weeks ago, the two sides reached a one-year, $19 million deal through 2022 to avoid a salary arbitration hearing.