SAN DIEGO — Aaron Judge has said he wanted to be a “Yankee for life.”
Now, it looks like he will be.
The free-agent superstar and the Yankees agreed to a nine-year, $360 million contract on Wednesday, The Post’s Jon Heyman confirmed, keeping the AL MVP in The Bronx for the foreseeable future and likely the rest of his career. The Athletic first reported the agreement, which is pending a physical.
And while the Yankees had been considered the favorites to keep their homegrown star — at least until this week at the Winter Meetings — Judge managed to pack plenty of drama into his free agency.
His hometown San Francisco Giants made a huge push to get the Linden, Calif. native back to the Bay Area and then there was a late push by the big-spending San Diego Padres and a quick trip to San Diego by Judge on Tuesday.
None of it was enough, as in the end, Judge won his bet on himself in a bigger way than many thought possible, going from the seven-year, $213.5 million extension he turned down on Opening Day into the richest contract in Yankee history.
It’s also the biggest deal ever for a position player, at $40 million per year, blowing by the Angels’ Mike Trout’s $35.5 million annual salary.
Judge, 30, turned down larger offers to stay with the Yankees, MLB.com reported. And the deal has a full no-trade clause.
Judge is expected to become the next Yankee captain, the first since Derek Jeter.
Even late Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning at the Winter Meetings, there was concern from the Yankees, who were left to wait for Judge’s decision.
Managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner, though, clearly was willing to be extremely aggressive after saying publicly how much of a priority it was for the Yankees to bring Judge back to The Bronx.
In many ways, it was similar to the Yankees’ pursuit of Gerrit Cole, which the Yankees also got done at a higher price than expected the last time the Winter Meetings were in San Diego.
Asked about Judge’s legacy with the Yankees on Tuesday, Aaron Boone said he felt Judge wanted to be a Yankee.
“I’ve always felt that way with Aaron, and I always feel like he certainly belongs in pinstripes,” Boone said. “A guy of his stature and his greatness hopefully spends his entire career [and goes] into Monument Park and into the Hall of Fame as a Yankee.”
He’s on his way, now that he’s staying with the team that drafted him in 2013. Judge is coming off a season for the ages, when he broke Roger Maris’ 61-year-old American League home run record and won his first AL MVP award.
There was cause for concern when it came to Judge’s future with the Yankees, in part due to Judge’s stated displeasure with the fact general manager Brian Cashman made the team’s extension offer public.
Then there were some boos at Yankee Stadium as Judge struggled during the postseason.
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A meeting with the Giants in San Francisco made the prospect of Judge heading West seem even more real and the Giants were a real consideration.
It’s less clear how strongly Judge looked at the Padres, who missed out on shortstop Trea Turner — who spurned them for less money to sign with the Phillies — and appeared willing to pivot and offer even more to Judge.
Instead, Judge got the deal he wanted from the Yankees, who still have more work to do this offseason — including likely adding another starting pitcher, a left fielder and some bullpen help.
