Aaron Judge 'disappointed' after failing to reach extension with New York Yankees ahead of Opening Day deadline

NEW YORK — New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge, speaking to reporters Friday, expressed frustration at not finalizing a long-term contract extension with the club with which he wants to spend the rest of his major league career.

«I'm just disappointed because I have been vocal about wanting to be a Yankee for life,» Judge said after the Yankees' 6-5 extra-innings win over the Boston Red Sox on Opening Day. «I want to bring a championship back to New York. I want to do it for the fans here. This is home for me. And I'm not getting that done right now. It stinks, but I got a job to do on the field. I got to shift my focus to that now and play some ball.»

Judge had self-imposed a deadline of Opening Day for coming to terms on an extension that would have prevented him from hitting free agency. But he and the Yankees did not reach an agreement, with GM Brian Cashman telling reporters earlier Friday that the team had offered a seven-year, $213.5 million extension, which, paired with the $17 million it offered in arbitration this season, would have made the entire package just over $230 million.

When asked whether he would like to address the fact that the Yankees made the rare move of publicly revealing their monetary offer, Judge refused to get into specifics and described it as the business side of baseball.

«I don't like talking numbers. I like to keep that private. Something I kind of felt like it was private between my team and the Yankees,» Judge said. «I'm a ballplayer. [Cashman] has a job to do, and I can't control that… It didn't take me by surprise; there's nothing to get upset about. It's business. It's a side of the sport that I love to play. In business, anything can happen, so you got to roll with it.»

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