Yankees rightfelder Aaron Judge during batting practice on Opening Day...

Yankees rightfelder Aaron Judge during batting practice on Opening Day before facing the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on Friday, April 8, 2022. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke

Aaron Judge and the Yankees were unable to come to an agreement on a contract extension before Judge’s self-imposed deadline of Opening Day on Friday.

For today, that is a Yankees story, one that cast a shadow over the opener. The Yankees were able to shake it off and capture an exciting 6-5 victory over the Red Sox on Josh Donaldson’s walk-off leadoff single in the 11th inning (thank you, ghost runner).

After the last pitch of this year’s World Series, the Judge saga may become a Mets story. Or, more accurately, a Steve Cohen story.

Judge said he won’t reopen talks during the season. So the specter of the Mets swooping in during the offseason and stealing the most beloved homegrown Yankee of the 21st century has to figure into what didn’t happen on Friday.

“Now batting for the Mets, No. 99, Aaron Judge.”

Would it shock you to hear that announcement on Opening Day 2023 at Citi Field?

If that happens, the Yankees will rue the day they didn’t come to an agreement to keep Judge in pinstripes for the entirety of his career.

Is Judge the best player in baseball? No. Has he been injury-prone? Yes. Would signing him for more than the seven-year, $213.5 million extension the Yankees say he turned down be risky? Yes.

Judge is worth the risk. He is the face of the franchise. He is the kind of player and person you want to represent your team and your city. He is a worthy successor to Derek Jeter and, armed with a completed contract extension, should have taken the field as the new Yankees captain on Friday.

Now that’s showbiz!

Imagine the mood at Yankee Stadium if Paul Olden announced during pregame introductions that Judge was going to be a Yankee until his 37th birthday and had been granted the captaincy.

Bedlam. Joy. Pinstriped pride. Whatever you want to call it.

Instead, fans entering the stadium — including those sitting in the “Judge’s Chambers” seats in rightfield — were greeted on their phones with the news that a deal could not be done.

“Not getting it done right now — that stinks,” said Judge, who went 2-for-5 in what may have been his final Opening Day as a Yankee.

Later, he added: “I don’t mind going to free agency.”

Thanks, by the way, to general manager Brian Cashman for revealing the Yankees’ offer. He said it was an average of $30.5 million for seven years beginning in 2023.

Adding in an approximately $19 million salary for this season, the total value of the package would have been eight years and about $232.5 million.

That’s a lot of cake! What sane person would turn that down?

That’s exactly how the Yankees would like you to react.

The purpose of announcing the offer details was, as Cashman said, “transparency,” and his belief that the numbers would have leaked out anyway.

The other purpose — not stated by Cashman, of course — is to lobby you, the Yankees fan.

To get you to take your anger at the supposedly miserly organization and refocus it on the supposedly greedy ballplayer.

You’re already steamed that the Yankees passed on all of the marquee free agents in the offseason. Part of the supposed reason was to save money for Judge.

How much should the Yankees have offered Judge? Enough to get it done. Trust me, if the Yankees wanted to, they would have gotten Judge’s signature on a contract.

What a strange time we are living in in baseball New York. Cohen’s Mets throw three years and $130 million at 37-year-old Max Scherzer and get him. Owners conclude labor negotiations by adding a “Cohen tax” aimed at teams that pass the $290 million mark in payroll.

No worry about the Yankees having to pay that tax anytime soon. But what’s happening here isn’t all about money. Sometimes teams have to read the room.

There was a time when George Steinbrenner liked signing members of the 1986 World Series championship Mets. He did it with Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, and both helped the Yankees during their Joe Torre/Jeter era glory days.

The only reminder of that era on Friday was old Torre pal and head-scratcher choice Billy Crystal throwing out the ceremonial first pitch.

Because nothing, apparently, screams Yankees tradition like Billy Crystal.

I’ve always suspected that the moment Steinbrenner no longer was totally in charge was when the Yankees let Red Sox ace and future Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez sign with the Mets in 2004.

What a story that would have been: the Yankees’ most hated rival wearing pinstripes. And Martinez still was a pretty good pitcher then.

If Cohen eventually signs Judge, he will prove himself Steinbrenner’s true New York baseball heir.

And that thought has to chill the bones of every Yankees fan. Even on a winning Opening Day.

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