Aaron Judge He is betting big again on himself — this time, he will go to arbitration with the New York Yankees This is not a time to agree to a settlement, but rather at noon on Friday.
Judge declined a $213.5million contract offer from Yankees on the eve this season and opted instead to open up the possibility of becoming a free agent in the fall. Judge took a similar approach regarding his 2022 salary, despite having just completed the best season in his career. According to sources, the Yankees offered to settle at $19 million. Judge declined and instead sought an arbitration win that both union officials and the management believed would alter the financial landscape.
Arbitration cases are usually decided in the offseason. Teams and players propose salaries in January, and then take those numbers to a hearing in February. However, the owners’ lockout forced the cancellation of the offseason schedule. Arbitration cases now spill over into the current season.
Due to the unusual timing of the hearings, the Yankees and Judge’s representatives cannot present any evidence after the 2022 season. The three-person panel can’t consider any production prior to this year. Judge, who is poised to become the first player to reach 60 homers in more than 20 years, has an OPS over 1.000 and is expected to be the front-runner for AL MVP. Judge will be in cyber-attendance.
Hearings were held prior to the COVID pandemic. All of the principles were present in the same room: the club officials, the players’ representatives and the arbitrators. Sometimes, cases could be settled by informal conversations, either during breaks or before proceedings began. This setting doesn’t allow for side-by-side conversations.
The arbiters should not consider the relative success/failure of the union or management in the 2022 cases. Officials from both sides have in the past suspected that the overall numbers played some role in decisions. The Associated Press reports that nine out of 13 cases have been won by teams this year.
Judge has been receiving a prorated salary, based on the Yankees $17 million offer. If Judge wins, he would be entitled to $21 million in this year’s salary.
Judge’s injury record is a major problem. He has been one the majors’ most consistent players since he was a minor leaguer. In 2017, his first full season, he played 155 innings, hit 52 homers and scored 128 runs. He was also awarded the AL Rookie of the Year. Jose Altuve Vote for MVP
Judge missed 142 games during the 2018-2020 season due to a variety of injuries. Judge played 148 games in 2021 and was fourth in the AL MVP voting.
Judge earned close to the minimum wage in his three first full seasons in major league baseball. In 2020, Judge’s first arbitration pass saw him earning $8.5 million. However, he didn’t earn nearly as much because the MLB season was limited to 60 games by COVID. Judge was paid $10.175 million in 2021. The Yankees offered a salary increase of almost $7 million. Judge’s team proposed a more than double the salary he received last year.
The Players Association will consider the victory of the Judge a significant victory because it could have a positive impact on future cases of injured players.