It must be nice to be Mike Trout right now. Seriously, at the end of 12 years he gets $430 million, but me on the other hand I spend four hours doing laundry and I find thirty-five cents at the bottom of the dryer. That quickly brought me back down to earth.
Too bad I am not a male who is a talented baseball player, huh? Seriously just three weeks ago we were all talking about Bryce Harper and his thirteen year, $330 million contract, which was the largest contract given at the time. It took no time for the Angels to say "hold my beer" and spend ridiculous money to keep the best player in baseball in their uniform forever. Trout wasn't going to be a free agent until AFTER next season, so clearly the Angels weren't messing around.
It's pretty much impossible to compare Trout to any other baseball player so I won't even try but....it's no wonder why people are already wondering what his deal means for Aaron Judge. It's strange to think that Judge won't be a free agent for three more years. He won't even be eligible for arbitration until after next season, so what's the hurry?
This winter will be remembered for two reasons: the slow moving (and frustrating) free agent market and the gigantic contracts that eventually came from them. Manny Machado was the first free agent to get a record breaking payday and then of course, Harper and Trout's contracts came after and were both bigger. All of these guys are top tier players, but so is Judge, so what about him?
He's bound to get paid. He's one of the most marketable players in the game and he's likable too! That's a huge plus in today's game. In his rookie year he hit 52 home runs and won the home run derby. The Yankees didn't pursue Machado or Harper for a reason....it's the only thing that makes sense. Judge is eventually going to get paid.
But I think how much and when remains to be seen. As talented as Judge is the one thing he has working against him is his age. Sure Trout and Judge less than a year apart in age, but Trout broke into the big leagues at nineteen years old and Trout's mega deal takes him up to 39 years old.
The odds that the Yankees offer a ten year deal to Judge when he's 30 years old isn't likely. Judge has a lot of talent, he just doesn't have the same accolades that Trout does and he will be older than Trout was as a free agent. So maybe the Yankees consider less years with a little extra money then they normally would offer. It would still be a big contract because let's face it....the Yankees pay the guys they want to keep around.
The Yankees ability to control Judge into his age thirty season gives them some leverage. But if we are looking at how undesirable free agency is and how important he is to the Yankees future maybe it is time for the Yankees to think about that extension. Maybe it doesn't happen this season, maybe it happens next year.
The timing isn't known, but what we do know is that the Yankees like Judge. They want to build around him....and I will double down on that thirty-five cents I found at the bottom of the dryer that they do build around him. We will just have to be patient which definitely isn't easy.
--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj
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