Yankees president Randy Levine discusses Aaron Judge’s impending free agency: ‘It’ll be up to him’

Aaron Judge is playing himself into what may be the biggest payday in the history of baseball.

Set to hit the free agent market at season’s end, the New York Yankees outfielder is on pace to break Roger Maris’ American League record for most home runs in a single season (61), and some may argue that’s the true MLB record.

Thirty teams are going to want Judge on their team beginning in 2023, and he’ll have the chance to talk to all of them. But make no mistake, the Yanks want him back.

“We love Aaron Judge. We think Aaron Judge is an all-time Yankee,” Levine said on “The Show” with Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman. “We think he’s a great player, beyond great player. We think he’s a great person. That is why we offered him the highest all-time position player contract in the history of the Yankees.”

Before Opening Day, Judge declined a $213.5 million, seven-year extension that would have begun in 2023 that also included a $17 million arbitration figure for this season. The deal would have totaled $230.5 million over eight years with an average annual value a little less than $29 million a year (Alex Rodriguez’s deal back in 2007 was for 10 years and $275 million).

The 30-year-old reportedly had been searching for a deal of at least nine years and more than $300 million, so it’s no question there will be lots of discussion in the offseason.

YANKEES’ AARON JUDGE MASHES 54TH HOME RUN, REMAINS ON PACE TO BREAK FRANCHISE RECORD

“There’s no issue here whether we want Aaron Judge back,” Levine said. “There’s no issue how much we value him. It’s a negotiation. What we’ll talk about with him and his representatives in the offseason is how do we keep him. And then it’ll be up to him to see does he want to stay here, does he want to go someplace else, is somebody offering him a better deal? … We think he’s one of the best players in baseball. It’s just a question of getting to yes, and we’re going to try again.

“We don’t want to let him leave. We’re going to try our very best to make him where we think he belongs: a longtime Yankee. But it takes two to get to yes. I’ve negotiated a lot of deals in my life. It’s hard to get to yes. At the end of the day, we’re going to really, really try. We know his worth, we know what he’s all about, but it takes two to tango. … All we can do is try and show him how much we’d like him to remain a Yankee.”

Levine expects the Bronx Bombers to be “extraordinarily competitive” in the Judge sweepstakes, but they aren’t going to utterly break the bank for Judge, despite fans’ cries for a blank check.

“Honestly, fans are fans, and I love them, but at the end of the day, negotiations have to be in the realm of reality — not unreality. … There’s venting and saying stuff that makes no sense at all in the real world, and then there’s the real effort, which we’re going to try and do to keep him a Yankee forever,” he said.

He is currently the overwhelming betting favorite to win the American League MVP Award, hitting .302 with an MLB-leading 54 homers and 1.085 OPS. He also leads the majors in RBI (117), slugging percentage (.682), total bases (330), OPS+ (204), runs scored (109) and WAR (8.4) while leading the AL with 80 walks and a .403 on-base percentage.