11:54 am: Judge and the Yankees agreed to a $19 million guarantee, MLB.com’s Mark Finsand reports (Twitter links). This is the exact midpoint between the deposit numbers, although the deal contains potential additional incentives. The judge will receive an additional $250,000 each if he wins the AL MVP and World Series MVP awards this season.
11:35 am: Yankees and Aaron Judge They agreed to a contract to avoid arbitration, reports John Heyman of the New York Post (Twitter link). A hearing was scheduled for this afternoon, but a last-minute settlement evades that necessity.
Judge and Yankees are set to go through with the process with the biggest scoring gap between any player and duo team this season. Judge Camp submitted a request for a salary of $21 million, while the Yankees responded with a salary of $17 million. MLB’s arbitration system does not allow judges to reach a middle point; Had they gone to a hearing, the arbitrators would have had to set the judge’s salary as either $17 million or $21 million. By avoiding this process, the parties can come together in a compromise that both parties agree on. This avoids any potential conflict arising in an anti-franchisement hearing.
This was the judge’s final season of arbitration eligibility, just a few months away from his first trip to the open market. He declined a seven-year, $213.5 million extension offer during spring training. It seems that betting on himself will pay off well, as the slug player is arguably the best talent available.
MLBTR first judge topped Strength arrangement from the next chapter a month ago, and he’s mashed into a .288/.369/.606 clip since that point. The .302/.379/.663 streak comes into play on Fridays overall, and 27 home runs separate them from everyone else in the game by six goals. He’s set to hit free agency ahead of his 31-year-old campaign and looks like he’s on track for an eight-plus-year deal if he continues to perform at an elite level in the final three months of the season.
As most likely realize by now, the judge’s stunning 2022 production was not admissible in his arbitration case. The Arbab process usually takes place in the off-season, with salaries set before opening day. The shutdown last winter put the league’s business on hold for more than three months, leaving insufficient time for players, teams and the referees themselves to sort through all the issues during spring training. And so the season’s hearings continued, but the MLB and the Players Association agreed that all issues should be based on the player’s working group before 2022.
Judge, of course, had a track record of career success even before the first half of this season in MVP caliber. He entered the year as a career .276/.386/.554 hitter, earning three All-Star appearances and two Silver Slugger Awards in the process. The Fresno State producer hit .287/.373/.544 with 39 homers and 98 hits last season, a podium performance that saw him raise his salary by a significant percentage compared to his $10.175 million salary from 2021.
Dissolution of the judge’s case formally closes the books for the 2021-22 arbitration class. 31 players had positions that lasted into the season, although the majority reached seasonal agreements or multi-year contract extensions. Of the 13 players who have participated in the hearings this season, four have won their case, according to News agency.
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