"I'm Just Disappointed": Aaron Judge On Extension Talks Failure

Aaron Judge has addressed the failure of coming to an agreement with the New York Yankees on a contract extension. "I'm just disappointed," he said, "because I think I've been vocal about wanting to be a Yankee for life... and I'm not getting that done right now. It stinks, but I've got a job to do (on the field)."

🎥 Aaron Judge addresses his failed contract extension negotiations with the #Yankees pic.twitter.com/Utc2BvduMk

— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) April 9, 2022

But Judge said he definitely isn't going to let the lack of a new deal affect him for this season. As he said, he isn't on the market just yet. 

“I’m not a free agent (right now)," said Judge. "No matter what, I’m playing here for the Yankees for this whole year.” 

The offer by the Yankees totaled $235M over 8 years (7-year extension plus this season), while sources say that Judge countered with an amount about $100M north of that. According to a poll of player agents by Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Yankees' offer was deemed "solid", given Judge's injury history. 

"That’s a very fair offer considering the durability factor,” one prominent agent told Heyman. Another added, “Lots of downside risk [to rejecting the offer].”

In the meantime, Judge is quite confident in his abilities to play out this season, and hopefully still work something out. But can the two sides close that $100M gap over the next 6 or 7 months?