Aaron Judge is staying in pinstripes.
The free-agent superstar and the Yankees agreed to a nine-year, $360-million contract on Wednesday, The Post’s Jon Heyman confirmed, keeping the AL MVP in The Bronx for the foreseeable future and possibly the rest of his career. The Athletic first reported the news.
Judge, 30, took a visit with his hometown Giants during the free-agent process but in the end is staying home instead of going home.
The outfielder turned down a seven-year, $213.5 million offer from the Yankees before Opening Day, betting on himself and winning big. He went on to hit an American League-record 62 home runs, breaking Roger Maris’ record, and flirted with a Triple Crown. He put the Yankees on his back to capture an AL East title and 99 wins.
The Post’s Jon Heyman reported during the winter meeting the Giants had offered Judge roughly $360 million. It was not enough to pry hm away from the only franchise he’s ever known.
The 6-foot-7, 280-pound Judge became the face of the franchise after hitting 52 homers as a rookie with the Yankees in 2017 and only cemented his place with the organization last season, when he broke Roger Maris’ American League record of 61 homers set in 1961.
Judge’s home run chase propelled him to his first AL MVP award, as the baseball world was transfixed on his pursuit of Maris’ mark.
The team’s first-round pick (32nd overall) in 2013 made his debut with the Yankees in 2016.
He wasn’t able to get the Yankees back to the World Series, but did just about everything else, becoming the organization’s brightest star since Derek Jeter.
Judge said after a wild-card loss in Boston that ended the 2021 season he wanted “to be a Yankee for life. I want to wear the pinstripes for the rest of my career. You never know what the future holds for you.”
“I do believe he wants to be a Yankee,’’ managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner said last month, when he made it a point to stress how important it would be to retain Judge. “I think we’ve got a good thing going here.”
The Yankees offered Judge a seven-year, $213.5 million extension on Opening Day, but Judge turned it down and was unhappy when general manager Brian Cashman made the details of the contract public.
“We kind of said, ‘Hey, let’s keep this between us,’” Judge told Time Magazine last month. “I was a little upset that the numbers came out. I understand it’s a negotiation tactic. Put pressure on me. Turn the fans against me, turn the media on me. That part of it I didn’t like.”
Judge was able to put those feelings aside, though, in deciding his baseball future.
Hal Steinbrenner had spoken directly with Judge since the season ended, making it clear the Yankees planned to do whatever they could to keep him in pinstripes. The club’s managing general partner then followed through on that, giving Judge a monster contract to avoid a doomsday scenario in which he signed with another team.
