Judge gets $360M as MLB offseason breaks the bank with mega deals I The Rush
After his historic 2022 season, Aaron Judge signed a 9-year, $360M contract with the Yankees, making New York the first MLB team to have three players under contract for at least $300M. This offseason has yielded more than $2B in future salaries, just a year after MLB owners staged a lockout during financial negotiations with the Players Association. In addition to Judge, recent signings include Masataka Yoshida to the Red Sox, Taijuan Walker to the Phillies and Wilson Contreras leaving the Cubs for the rival Cardinals.
Video Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
- And the 3-2. Drilled deep to left field. This could be it. See ya! He's done it! Number 61!
[AUDIO LOGO]
JARED QUAY: We all thought Aaron Judge's magic number was 61 last season. But it seems we were off by a digit 'cause the Yankees slugger is signing a $360 million, nine-year contract to remain in New York City.
- Holy [? sh-- ?] [MUTED] [? --it. ?] Holy [? [MUTED]. ?]
JARED QUAY: If you recall, Judge turned down a Yankees offer during spring training earlier this year for $213 million over seven years. And after blasting his way into the history books hitting 62 home runs, looks like he earned himself a bonus of $2.37 million per dinger in this new deal. The 30-year-old is set to make $40 million per season in his new contract, which breaks down to almost $110,000 a day until he's 40.
- I'm a man! I'm 40!
JARED QUAY: If you're wondering where this contract ranks all-time in the sports world, check out Yahoo's article by Liz Roscher. But here's a spoiler alert. If Judge and Pat Mahomes go out to dinner, Money Mahomes is picking up the tab.
The fact that baseball doesn't have a salary cap makes it possible for multiple players on the same squad to make obscene amounts of money. The Yankees are now the first team in MLB history to have three players on the books with contracts worth more than $300 million a pop. That's over $1 billion. I'm old enough to remember when baseball owners pleaded poverty and locked the players out for 99 days, earlier this year during labor negotiations.
- How things change.
JARED QUAY: Major League Baseball's like, recession? What's a recession?
- [EVIL LAUGH]
[EVIL LAUGHTER]
JARED QUAY: Then there's the Phillies handing out millions of dollars like Oprah gives away her favorite things, spending $300 million on Trea Turner and another $72 million on Taijuan Walker. Then the Red Sox signed Masataka Yoshida for a cool $105.4 million. And how about good old St. Louis spending $87 and 1/2 million to lure Willson Contreras from the rival Cubbies?
Our good friend Jeff Passan pointed out that MLB teams have thus far guaranteed over $2 billion in future salaries this offseason. Oh, and can't forget about the Mets who are paying Justin Verlander nearly $87 million for two years of service, all while New York is still paying Bobby Bonilla over $1,000,000 until the year 2035. 2035. I can't even imagine. But it reminds me of this classic sketch.
- (SINGING) In the year 2000--
- The Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox will meet in the World Series, up in the bleachers where they'll have a great view of the Yankees and Braves.
JARED QUAY: Damn. Yo, Conan O'Brien is like a reverse psychic. Boston and Chicago won [? chimps ?] in the 2000. So anything's possible, like Elon Musk buying a MLB team, relocating them to the moon by 2035. I mean, if Twitter doesn't bankrupt him first, but you know he's [INAUDIBLE] to [? sport-- ?]