His new deal is for 9 years and $360M; since he turns 31 in April, it will keep him in pinstripes until he is 40 and thus likely the rest of his career. It has been reported the Giants also offered him $360M and that the Padres offered $400M. Bear that in mind when reading/hearing hot takes about the Yankees overpaying. Certainly there is significant risk involved…he’s not likely to bean MVP caliber player when he is 40…but he is now obviously, seeing as he just set the AL single season home run record (62) and is in fact the reigning AL MVP. He also challenged for the Triple Crown until late in the season. No, the Steinbrenners’ worry shouldn’t be the inevitable decline with age; the real risk is injury sapping the production earlier than expected. For now I’m just going to applaud and congratulate him on one of the best bets-on-self ever, if not the bast, recalling he turned down 7 years and $213M at the start of the season.
Meanwhile the Winter Meetings have continued to be busy with form Judge teammate Jameson Taillon signing with the Cubs, former Met Taijuan Walker signing with the Phillies, Jose Quintana signing with the Mets, and the Cardinals replacing the retired Yadier Molina with erstwhile Cub Wilson Contreras.
Fan Interference 