Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees were unable to agree on a contract extension before the team's Opening Day tilt against the Boston Red Sox on Friday. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman announced the news leading up to Friday's game, saying the best offer was a seven-year extension worth $30.5 million per season starting in 2023. The deal would have included a $17 million contract for 2022 after Judge filed at $21 million in arbitration talks.

Brendan Kuty of NJ.com has more details on Judge's contract demands. Not only did he want more than seven years, as he wanted no less than nine, but he wanted more than the $30.5 million the Yankees were offering annually. It's unclear just how much more than that he was eyeing.

New York's offer would have made Judge the highest-paid position player in franchise history in terms of annual value, breaking Alex Rodriguez's old record of $27.5 million. But that wasn't good enough for the Yankees slugger, so there's no deal.

The 29-year-old Judge is coming off a bounce-back season in 2021. The righty masher banged out 39 home runs and knocked in 98 runs while slashing .287/.373/.544. He made the All-Star Game for the first time since 2018 and hit over 30 home runs for the first time since he mashed 52 in 2017, his first full season in MLB.

Judge wants to be paid like the MVP candidate he was in 2017 and 2021. New York put a good offer on the table, but it's understandable for him to want even more given some of the other top annual salaries. The fact that he's 29 with an injury history is surely the reason the Yankees don't want to offer more than seven years, though, and now it looks like he could hit free agency.