Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees narrowly avoided an arbitration hearing Friday by agreeing to a $19 million, one-year contract with incentives, a deal that still leaves the slugger on track to become a free agent after the World Series.
Judge can reportedly make an additional $250,000 by winning the MVP award and $250,000 for World Series MVP.
Judge, at 30, is in the middle of perhaps his best season, batting .304 with 27 homers and 53 RBIs in 68 games for the major league-leading Yankees.
Just before the start of the season, Judge turned down a $213.5 million contract offer from the Yankees, choosing instead to leave open the possibility that he could become a free agent this fall. The Yankees proposed an arbitration figure of $17 million for his 2022 salary, while Judge proposed $21 million.
Judge is on pace to become the first player in more than two decades to reach 60 homers, have an OPS of over 1.000 this year while being the likely front-runner for the AL MVP.