Aaron Judge Says His Wish Is to Finish Career with Yankees: 'No Better Place to Play'

Aaron Judge has one year of arbitration remaining before he can become a free agent, but the three-time All-Star would love the opportunity to spend his entire career with the New York Yankees. 

In an interview with Fanatics (h/t RealGM.com), Judge said "there's no better place to play" than in the Bronx as a member of the Yankees. 

"No other place I'd really ever want to play, just based on how the fans have embraced me, how they brought me in and treated me as one of their own," he added. "It's incredible."

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman was asked earlier this week at the GM meetings if the two sides have talked about a long-term contract extension:

"We have not. But, obviously, there’s a lot of time. Right now, I’ve been in human resource mode for the most part dealing with coaching interviews…and stuff like that. But all in due time we’ll clearly have to have a conversation with Aaron Judge’s agent, whether it’s on a one-year arbitration [agreement] or whether it’s a multiyear [deal]. We’ll have to just work through it all."

An extension for Judge could be a difficult thing to navigate. He's played at a high level in the big leagues when healthy, but injuries have been an issue. 

The 2021 season marked the first time since his rookie campaign that Judge hadn't missed at least 32 games. 

You would never know based on Judge's stat lines that he's ever been hurt. The 29-year-old has a .280/.391/.563 slash line in 545 games since 2017. He's averaged 31 homers per season during that span. 

Judge has been the face of Yankees baseball for the past five seasons. He's arguably the most popular player the franchise has had since Derek Jeter retired. He's a homegrown star who was a first-round draft pick in 2013. 

There's still time for the Yankees to talk with Judge about a long-term deal, but it's been made clear through his performance that he can lead the franchise now and in the future.