Yankees' Aaron Judge Has 'a Pot of Gold' Waiting for Next Contract, Says GM Cashman

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman expects Aaron Judge to firmly cash in following what has been the ultimate contract year.

"There’s a pot of gold there," Cashman told reporters Sunday. "It’s yet to be determined what the gold — how much it weighs — but it’s a pot of gold, no doubt about it. So good for him. It was already a big pot and, obviously, it’ll be bigger."

Judge turned down the Yankees' best offer before the 2022 season got underway. The deal would've provided $213.5 million in new money over seven years. It seemed like a bit of a risk for a player who is a physical anomaly at 6'7" and 282 pounds and will be 31 next season.

Instead, Judge will be the template for betting on yourself.

The four-time All-Star is all but a lock to win MVP after hitting an American League-record 62 home runs along with a 1.111 OPS and a 211 OPS+. He leads all position players in WAR (11.4) at FanGraphs, and the gap between him and Manny Machado (7.4) in second place is equal to the gap between Machado and the pair of Jeremy Pena and Cedric Mullins II in 50th.

Matching or surpassing Mike Trout's record-setting $426.5 million contract will likely be tough for Judge, but he has at least made a strong case to exceed the $43.3 million Max Scherzer earns from the New York Mets.

The Yankees figure to be a strong contender for the outfielder's services. Cashman said the team would "like to win the day on that discussion" and "love to have Aaron Judge back as New York Yankee."

In order to make that a reality, Cashman might have to line up the single biggest contract in franchise history.