What kind of deal did the Yankees do with Aaron Judge?

In a surprising-not surprising deal, the Yankees managed to keep hold of the one player that they went into the off season with their eye on.

With the San Francisco Giants pursuing the AL MVP with all their might, there was speculation rife that the Bay-area native would choose the lure of home over the bright lights of the Big Apple.

Judge had previously expressed his desire to play his entire career with the Yankees, but many baseball fans were disgusted by the outrageous booing of the All-Star by his own fans near the end of the regular season. Many thought that the disrespect shown to the man who broke Maris’ home run mark by Yankee fans would be enough to push him out of the city.

This clearly was not the case, and the deal done shows the Yankees respect for Judge, at the organizational level if not at street level. Aaron Judge has reportedly turned down higher offers elsewhere because of his desire to remain a Yankee, and has agreed a nine-year $360 million deal that will see him remain in pinstripes for the rest of his career.

This move will now make sense of the almost incomprehensible new contract that Brian Cashman signed earlier in the week. It is pretty clear that he had hitched his horse entirely to keeping Judge in house and with this signing, Cashman was handed a four-year contract extension for himself as a kind of reward.

One of the purported sticking points in the negotiations was that Judge wanted to be named captain, and it would seem that the Yankees will likely give him that honor as well.

Congratulations to the Yankees and to Aaron Judge. This deal is a blockbuster for both.