TAMPA, Fla. — Aaron Judge remembers well the last time a Yankee entered an arbitration room and faced off against team hierarchy.
It was 2017 and though Judge, then a rookie, was in the beginning stages of a position battle for the starting rightfield job against Aaron Hicks, he nonetheless couldn’t help but take notice of the ugliness that transpired in the hearing room between the club and reliever Dellin Betances.
“You read the news and you see the comments that were said about him, you saw the comments he had to say,” Judge said by his locker Wednesday afternoon. “Just as a friend you kind of pull him aside and say, ‘Hey, you good? What’s going on? What happened?’ And he kind of fills you in on what’s going on. Dellin doesn’t say much but that was a big moment for him, and you learn a lot.”
It is not a certainty the two sides will go down that road, but a step was taken in that direction Tuesday when they failed to come to an agreement on a one-year deal for this season. Judge, 30, was the only one of the 12 Yankees who were arbitration-eligible not to agree to a contract for 2022. Judge, due to become a free agent after this season, filed for $21 million while the Yankees filed for $17 million.
Again, it is not a lock Judge and the Yankees will go to arbitration as both parties would like to a.) avoid a contentious arbitration hearing, and b.) work out a long-term extension, something owner Hal Steinbrenner and general manager Brian Cashman both said earlier this spring would be discussed.
Judge said Wednesday the sides had talked extension in recent days, but only in very generic terms as neither dollars nor years were discussed.
“I’m focused on doing my work here, let’s get this arbitration stuff done with and then we can move on to [extension talks],” Judge said.
The rightfielder said on March 15 if an extension isn’t reached by the April 7 season opener vs. Boston, he won’t be engaging in those talks during the regular season.
Judge said he’s “optimistic” something can be worked out before acknowledging, “It’s a short window.”
As for an arbitration hearing, it is in both Judge's and the Yankees' interest to avoid it. Betances, like Judge a homegrown Yankee, never fully got over the bitterness of the process, which included team president Randy Levine conducting a conference call with reporters that essentially served as a touchdown dance after the club prevailed. (The Yankees filed at $3 million while Betances filed at $5 million.)
“I think both sides want to avoid that and having to go in that room and kind of fight each other a little bit and bring out the boxing gloves, but I’m prepared for it,” Judge said. “I kind of learned back then, when Dellin went through it and kind of talked to him about the process and I got a heads-up of how that works. I think our team’s [representatives] are prepared for it and ready for it. They’ve been working hard, collecting analytics, different information to help us go in there and win a case. But I would like to handle it before I got to that spot.”
Judge, who has said repeatedly and reaffirmed Wednesday that he wants to be “a Yankee for life,” is also not fearful of exploring the open market after the season if need be.
“If it comes to it, maybe,” Judge said of perhaps being curious what he could get as a free agent. “But like I’ve said before, I want to play here, I want to finish my career here. There’s no better place to play. I’m hoping we don’t get to that but if we do, I think I’ll be ready for it.”
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March 24, 2022 at 03:07AM
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Aaron Judge hopes to avoid arbitration hearing with Yankees - Newsday
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