NEW YORK — Aaron Judge made a couple appearances in the Yankees clubhouse Friday afternoon during the hour of media availability.
His thoughts on avoiding a potentially ugly salary arbitration hearing by meeting the Yankees in the middle at $19 million for his 2022 contract?
Judge will talk after Friday night’s Yankees-Houston Astros game, team spokesman Jason Zillo said.
Manager Aaron Boone shared his reaction.
“I’m pleased getting that news,” the skipper said. “I was excited about it. I spoke to him briefly on the phone (after the early-afternoon news broke) just to make sure timing wise and everything he was good. I’m excited that’s behind us and we can leave that portion of the show alone.”
If Judge and the Yankees hadn’t settled, an arbitration panel would have had to decide when he made $21 million or $17 million this year. Also, the panel would have been under orders only to judge Judge on his numbers prior to this season, one in which he’s leading the majors in home runs.
Judge reportedly turned down the Yankees’ $19 million offer on Friday before accepting with performance bonuses, $250,000 for American MVP and $250,000 for World Series MVP.
Judge and the Yankees still hope to work out a long-term contract at some point, but it appears it would offer next winter when he’s on the free agent market.
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Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com.
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