The shiniest toy in this year’s free agent class is Yankees superstar Aaron Judge. Judge is a first-time free agent and will be looking for some serious cash and a long-term deal. How many years, you ask?
MLB insider and FOX Sports broadcaster Ken Rosenthal says that Judge’s future contract could take him into his Age 39 season.
“The way the free-agent market for Aaron Judge is developing, it appears increasingly likely that the winning bid will be for nine guaranteed years, sources involved in the negotiations say.”
The number of years trending towards Judge’s way is not a good sign for the Dodgers, who have been linked to Judge since entering free agency.
According to Rosenthal, the Dodgers are not willing to offer a nine-year deal for the AL MVP.
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“The Dodgers are believed to want Judge only on a short-term, high-dollar deal.”
And this is how the Dodgers and Andrew Friedman operate. Besides Mookie Betts long-term deal, they’ve offered superstar free agents short-term deals with a high dollar amount.
However, that wouldn’t work for Judge. He is coming off a historic 2022 season in which he earned his fourth all-star appearance, got himself another silver slugger, had a career-high in batting average, OPB, slugging, OPS, and set an AL home run record at 62.
Judge will turn 31 at the beginning of the 2023 season, so who knows how good he will be for the length of his contract.
Nevertheless, the California native deserves the amount of money that will be offered to him and somewhere he will call home for the next nine years or so.
It’ll be best for the Dodgers to look elsewhere and spend that money on a pitcher.
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