Yankees' Hal Steinbrenner on Aaron Judge: Money won't stop us

Hal Steinbrenner has made it his personal mission to keep Aaron Judge in pinstripes, and the Yankees’ owner went as far as to suggest Tuesday that money won’t be an obstacle.

Steinbrenner said he’s had multiple conversations with Judge since the season ended, including one in-person meeting -- they both live in Tampa -- and expressed that he “wants him to be a Yankee for the rest of his life.” Obviously, a big part of that is the financial component, and after Judge turned down a $213.5 million extension on Opening Day, Steinbrenner made it clear Tuesday that coming up with the cash for Judge wasn’t going to be an issue, taking into account any other teams that could get involved in the bidding.

“We know where our payroll is right now,” Steinbrenner said during an interview at MLB’s midtown headquarters, where the sport’s owners are meeting this week. “And I can tell you that’s not going to stop us.”

That was a bold assertion by Steinbrenner, as Judge has only been a free agent for a little over a week and his hometown Giants -- a franchise itching to spend big this winter-- already has made noise about pursuing the AL’s single-season home run champ. But Steinbrenner certainly knows that Judge’s worth to the Yankees goes far beyond what he does on the field, and he spoke Tuesday as if letting him get away was not an option.

“I do believe he wants to be a Yankee,” Steinbrenner said. “I think we’ve got a good thing going here.”

Steinbrenner wouldn’t divulge the details of his conversations with Judge, other than to emphasize how crucial he is to the franchise. Judge is likely to be named MVP Thursday night after leading the majors in just about every offensive category and breaking Roger Maris’ 61-year-old American League record by hitting 62 homers. But as a homegrown star, the logical heir to Derek Jeter as the next captain, and by far the franchise’s most popular player among the fan base, Judge’s value to the Bronx is almost immeasurable.

“He’s very important to the fan base, and very important to my family and the organization,” Steinbrenner said. “I’ve absolutely conveyed that I want him to be a Yankee for the rest of his life. No doubt about that. He knows that.

“The rest us up to him and his family and where they want to go from here. But we’re going to do what we can, I can assure you.”

Steinbrenner took full responsibility for the Yankees’ questionable call of making the team’s Opening Day offer public, an unorthodox negotiating tactic that definitely annoyed Judge to the extent that the bad feelings probably lingered throughout this walk year. It’s unclear if that will end up hurting the talks this winter.

“In the conversations we’ve had, it has not come up,” Steinbrenner said. “It might, and I’ll explain to him, ‘My call. Be mad at me. But here are the reasons why.’

“But it’s something I definitely approved. I approve everything that comes down the pike. And I think Cash’s idea was, it’s going to get out anyways, let’s be transparent about it, so the correct information gets out there for our fans, because our fans want to know. They want to know that we’re making an effort -- a real effort.”

Maybe that was a real effort back then, but Steinbrenner is going to need a much bigger one now to convince Judge to return, likely beyond $300 million. Steinbrenner insists he’s not fazed by the money, and listening to him Tuesday, it sounded like he wouldn’t be outbid for Judge. He also is very much aware that the Yankees’ “frustrated” fan base is demanding that Judge stay in the Bronx.

“They absolutely expect it,” Steinbrenner said. “Understandably so, and that’s why we’re going to be working hard to do everything we can to make it happen.”

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.