In the last few days, the possibility of New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge being extended has been discussed extensively by fans.
He recently had an appearance on the R2C2 podcast and talked about his future.
He said he would be “honored” to wear the Yankees’ pinstripes for the long-term, but also made it sound like he could prepare for life elsewhere if both sides can’t come to an agreement.
Judge is certainly not an easy player to extend for a team so eager to stay under the luxury tax threshold, like the Yankees have shown to be in recent seasons.
They already have two mammoth contracts in Gerrit Cole and Giancarlo Stanton, and they fear Judge may be a bit injury-prone.
When healthy, however, he has proven he can be elite.
That’s the thinking of former Yankees’ pitcher CC Sabathia, who came to the Bronx in 2009, won a World Series that year, and stayed until his retirement in 2019.
CC recently posted a comment on an Instagram post that said “extend my guy” and then tagged Judge’s account.
CC Sabathia wants Aaron Judge to be a Yankee for life pic.twitter.com/7vnNfPAD26
— Barry (MLB Lockout disenjoyer) (@YanksBar) February 19, 2022
Judge Can Thrive In New York
Judge has everything to thrive in the Bronx for at least the next five or six years: he is still young at 29, he has a career .940 OPS, and had a fantastic 2021 with a .287/.373/.544 slash line and a .916 OPS, not to mention his 39 home runs and 98 RBI.
Judge can hit for a high average, has improved his contact ability, has game-changing power, can run a bit, is athletic and remains an elite fielder in right field.
He is also humble, soft-spoken, respectful, and would be honored to be named captain one day.
He is also a very large individual who may or may not hold up over the long-term and has had some injury issues in the past.
He isn’t without risks, but overall, the Yankees should offer him what it’s needed to get a deal done.
He is a top-10 position player in MLB.
NEXT: Aaron Judge Is Ready To Assume A Top Yankees Honor