Aaron Judge sends message to Yankees about his future

Before he reaches free agency next season, New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge clarifies his desire to stay in New York for the rest of his career. 

Ever since he debuted for the team in 2016, Aaron Judge has had an illustrious career with the Yankees.

He began his career with an auspicious home run on his first at-bat, finishing his rookie season with an All-Star award and a Home Run Derby win. His 52 home runs as a rookie not only bested Mark McGwire’s MLB rookie home run record, but it obliterated Joe DiMaggio’s Yankees record of 29.

Since his historic breakthrough season, Judge has been one of the Yankees’ best players — and he doesn’t want his time in New York to end anytime soon.

“To be honest, there’s no better place to play,” Judge said. “No other place I’d really ever want to play, just based on how the fans have embraced me, how they brought me in and treated me as one of their own. It’s incredible.”

Judge is 29 years old, and he hopes that he can spend the next ten years of his career how he has spent the last five: slamming it out of the park for the pinstripes.

“That would be a wish of mine, a goal of mine to finish my career as a Yankee, but you never know what the cards hold,” Judge said. “If it was up to me, I’d be a Yankee for the next 10 years.”

Aaron Judge contract: Yankees need to pay up soon

It will cost the Yankees a great deal to keep Judge on the team.

Judge has been an exhilarating young talent, but he’s been receiving rookie-level payments for the majority of his time in New York. During his 2017 rookie season, Judge only made $544,500. In 2020, his value jumped exponentially, as he received $8.5 million that season. Next year, he’s set to make $17 million.

According to Spotrac, the Yankees can expect to pay him $203,313,344 for eight years, or $25,414,168. That would put him in the leagues of what Mookie Betts is set to make over 12 years with a $365 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers.