Judge, Yankees agree to $19M deal, avoid hearing

NEW YORK (AP) — Slugger Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees agreed to a $19 million, one-year contract, avoiding an arbitration hearing scheduled for Friday.

Judge can make an additional $250,000 for MVP and $250,000 for World Series MVP.

Judge is in the middle of perhaps his best season, batting .304 with 27 homers and 53 RBIs in 68 games for the major league-leading Yankees. He hit a game-winning RBI single during New York's 7-6 victory over Houston on Thursday night.

Judge and the Yankees were scheduled for an arbitration hearing. No statistics or evidence from after March 1 were admissible other than contract and salary comparisons, timing set when Major League Baseball and the players’ association agreed to the deal that ended the lockout.

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