The New York Yankees went out and did the thing this morning when they officially re-signed AL MVP Aaron Judge to a nine-year $360 million contract. Yesterday, I wrote that the whispers around the meetings suggested that the Yanks were in the ballpark of eight years for $320 million.
Andy Martino of SNY confirmed that was the case as of last night. Aaron Judge and Hal Steinbrenner got on the phone and Steinbrenner simply asked if Judge wanted to be a Yankee. Judge told him yes, but the Padres and Giants had much bigger offers.
Upon hearing that, Steinbrenner added a year and $40 million to get the deal done. While re-signing Judge was massive, there’s plenty more work to do and I’m hearing buzz from the meetings that the Yanks are pressing on the gas.
The buzz from the lobby this morning is that the Yankees are really focused on landing starting pitcher Carlos Rodon. They believe that Rodon is the bonafide #2 starter that they need to slot in behind their ace Gerrit Cole.
Yankees pressing for Carlos Rodon
The Yankees have five starters currently with Cole, Severino, Cortes, Montas, and German. However, Severino and Montas will be free agents after this upcoming season and neither have been a symbol of perfect health. Nestor Cortes was incredible last year, but that was the first time he ever performed at that level.
The Yankees truly only know what they’re getting out of one pitcher and that’s Gerrit Cole. Behind him are a bunch of question marks. Carlos Rodon would be a horse that you can slot in right behind Cole and the word around the meetings is there is serious mutual interest between the two parties.
Now, Rodon has a robust market and I’m not saying it’s a done deal and remember, everything I’m getting is second-hand from the lobby of the meetings. However, I’m told that there’s enough smoke to suggest that a Rodon deal could get done today and if it’s the Yankees, we could be looking at a five-year deal with a sixth year option. Again, not done, but the Yanks are making a push.