Aaron Judge doesn't care if Juan Soto gets bigger contract from Yankees: 'It ain't my money'

Aaron Judge won't be bothered if free agent Juan Soto gets a bigger deal from the New York Yankees than the captain's $360 million, nine-year contract.

"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 said Friday, a day after he was a unanimous winner of his second AL MVP award. "That's never been something on my mind about who gets paid the most."

Judge led the major leagues with 58 homers, 144 RBIs and 133 walks while hitting .322 as New York reached the World Series for the first time since 2009, only to lose to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Soto batted .288 with 41 homers, 109 RBIs and 129 walks in his first season with the Yankees and finished third in MVP voting, also trailing Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt. Jr.

A free agent at 26, Soto has met with the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers and Boston Red Sox, and he plans to meet with the Philadelphia Phillies, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the meetings have not been publicly announced.

Negotiations are not likely to intensify until after Thanksgiving.

Judge hasn't spoken with Soto since the World Series. Judge went through the free-agent experience after hitting an AL record 62 homers in 2022.

"The best thing is to really give those guys space," Judge said. "I talked to him all season and he knows how we feel about him and I think the most important thing is now 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 met with Yankees officials on Monday at a hotel in southern California, a group that included owner Hal Steinbrenner,