Aaron Judge doesn’t mind if free agent Juan Soto secures a larger contract from the New York Yankees than his own $360 million, nine-year deal. “It ain’t my money. I really don’t care as long as we get the best players. We get the most that we can; I’m happy with whatever,” Judge stated on Friday, just a day after being named the unanimous winner of his second AL MVP award. “That’s never been something on my mind about who gets paid the most.”
Judge made headlines this past season by leading Major League Baseball with 58 home runs, 144 RBIs, and 133 walks while maintaining an impressive batting average of .322. His performance helped propel the Yankees to the World Series for the first time since 2009, although they ultimately fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
In his first season with New York, Soto posted a solid .288 batting average, hitting 41 homers and driving in 109 runs while drawing 129 walks. He finished third in the MVP voting, trailing Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.
As negotiations for Soto’s potential contract heat up, they are expected to gain momentum after Thanksgiving. Judge, who experienced the free-agent market himself after breaking the AL record with 62 home runs in 2022, has not spoken with Soto since the World Series.
“The best thing is to really give those guys space,” Judge emphasized. “I talked to him all season, and he knows how we feel about him. I think the most important thing is to let him do his thing with his family, pray about it, talk with people, and come to the right decision for him and his family.”
Soto recently met with Yankees officials, including owner Hal Steinbrenner, team president Randy Levine, and general manager Brian Cashman, at a hotel in Southern California. Steinbrenner described the meeting as a productive and honest dialogue that lasted a couple of hours.
When asked about the likelihood of retaining Soto, Steinbrenner replied, “No idea. We’ll be in the mix. I’ll leave it at that.”
Soto and Judge formed a formidable batting duo, occupying the Nos. 2 and 3 spots in the Yankees’ lineup for a franchise-record 153 games, surpassing the previous record set by Joe Dugan and Babe Ruth in 1923. Judge remarked, “I get to see a lot of pitches. He’s going to be a tough at-bat in front of me. He wears down the pitcher right there in the first inning, within the first 15 pitches or so. Having a guy like that in front of you makes a big impact.” He added, “If I could have eight Juan Sotos in the lineup with me, I would love that.”
Following the World Series, Judge spent about a week in Tampa, Florida, where the Yankees conduct spring training, and had a meeting with Steinbrenner. “We discussed a lot of things, from Juan to other guys that could definitely help this team,” Judge shared. “I kind of just gave my input on a couple of things.”
Judge noted that when he signed his significant contract in late 2022, Steinbrenner expressed a desire for a closer relationship. They have since been meeting every week or two, with pitcher Gerrit Cole also developing a similar rapport with the owner.
Currently, Judge’s contract ranks as the fourth largest in baseball history, following deals for Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers ($700 million), Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels ($426.5 million), and Mookie Betts of the Dodgers ($365 million). Judge pointed out that teammate Giancarlo Stanton’s $325 million contract, once the highest in the league when he joined the Yankees in 2018, now ranks tied for ninth.
“Even though he signed one of those first big mega-contracts back in Miami, once he came here, he didn’t care about being the highest-paid guy. He just wanted good players around him,” Judge explained.
In joining the legendary Mickey Mantle as the Yankees’ only unanimous MVPs in 1956, Judge was quick to credit his teammates. “You look at every single one of my teammates in that room and know that each and every single one of them impacted me in a way that put me in that position. So it’s always going to be a team award in my book,” he concluded.
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New York Yankees
Aaron Judge
Juan Soto
