Judge, Yankees fail to agree to long-term contract

NEW YORK (AP) — Far apart from the New York Yankees on a long-term deal, Aaron Judge carried through his promise to cut off talks when the first pitch of the season was thrown.

“I’m just disappointed because I think I’ve been vocal about I want to be a Yankee for life" he said. "I want to bring a championship back to New York. I want to do it for the fans here. They’re family. This is home for me, and not getting that done right now, it stinks.”

Starting perhaps his final season with the Yankees, Judge was 2 for 5 with a double as New York railled for a season-opening 6-5, 11-inning win over the Boston Red Sox on Friday.

“At the end of the year, I’m a free agent. I can talk to 30 teams and the Yankees will be one of those 30 teams,” Judge said. “So, it’s always nice to try to wrap something up sooner, the better. But like I said, we weren’t able to get it done and now it’s on the baseball.”

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said the team offered an eight-year contract worth $230.5 million to $234.5 million, the difference to have been determined in arbitration for this year's salary.

Judge's representatives wanted a nine-year deal in excess of the average annual value of Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout's contract, which comes to $319.6 million, a person familiar with the negotiations said, speaking on condition of anonymity because Judge's stance was not made public.

Cashman said he spoke with Judge's agent, to no avail.

“We obviously had an extended conversation over the last three weeks or so with Page Odle and I — I actually had a conversation with Aaron Judge briefly, as well, but we were unsuccessful in concluding a multiyear pact,” Cashman said, looking glum during a news conference about two hours