The MLB lockout isn’t just hurting current free agents, but impending ones who could be looking for an extension and don’t currently have the luxury of talking to their club.
Yankees superstar Aaron Judge is in that predicament.
But, while talking on the R2C2 Podcast with CC Sabathia and Ryan Ruocco, Judge seemed to suggest that he’d want to have a possible Yankees extension in place before Opening Day rolls around.
“Whatever happens – if we get an extension done at some point before the season starts, that’d be great and I’d be completely honored to wear pinstripes a couple more years,” Judge explained. “But if it doesn’t happen and this is my last year, I had a lot of great memories. And it doesn’t matter if it’s my last year or first year, I’m going to go out there and play my best and do what I need to do for the city and do what I need to do for the team.
“It’s all in God’s hands. It’s going to work out the way it’s supposed to.”
Judge will be playing in his final year of arbitration in 2022, but like he mentioned, an extension could easily change that. But it may be hard for the Yankees considering the lockout continues to tie their hands.
Will Cashman’s pursuit of current free agents get in the way of a potential Judge extension? There’s a chance it does.
But Judge knows that no matter where his first huge contract comes, it’s up to him to perform on the field to make sure he’s worthy of it.
“That’s what it ultimately comes down to: You go out there and prove it,” he explained. “If the ball’s in your court, no matter who you are when it comes to free agency or anything, it’s about you putting up the numbers and doing what you need to do and showing that you deserve a contract. You deserve to be somewhere.
“For me, it makes my job easy. Go out there and do what I need to do to play every single day, be out there on the field, support my teammates and bring a championship back this last year. That’s the fun part right there. I don’t have to worry. I got people taking care of the business side of it. I got a job to do on the field.”
“That’s one thing that I’ve been lucky enough to play in the best organization out of all of them. So who wants to go anywhere else?”