Yankees running out of time to sign first round pick Aaron Judge

With the July 12 signing deadline for draftees rapidly approaching, the Yankees are running out of time to ink first-rounder Aaron Judge. The 32nd overall pick is the only draftee in the first 15 rounds of the 2013 draft that the Yankees have not yet agreed to terms with because he has reportedly been holding out for a signing bonus that exceeds his slot value.

The big right-hander does have college to fall back on as a junior at Fresno State, but few people had any belief that he'd end up heading back to school instead of signing with the Yankees. The physical process takes about two days to fully complete and Judge has no plans to fly to Tampa to begin the process in the next 24 hours, according to K. Levine-Flandrup. That would put things mighty close to the 5 pm deadline on Friday if the two sides can work out some sort of agreement between now and then. Levine-Flandrup says that the Yankees won't sign anyone without a complete physical, and understandably so.

At 32nd overall, Judge's slot value is $1,677,100 with the Yankees having a bit extra to throw his way because of savings elsewhere. The team is currently $311,900 under budget, some of which could go toward bribing Judge to sign with them. At this point, it seems like Judge is just holding out until the last moment to try and squeeze out every penny that he can from the Yankees. If both sides are trying to play hardball, one will have to give way to the other soon, or the Yankees will have to face the fact that another first round pick will be heading back to school and likely signing elsewhere after next year's draft.

Should the Yankees and Judge fail to come to an agreement by the signing deadline, the team would receive an additional first round pick in the 2014 draft as compensation. Add that to the possible first round picks from departing free agents when the season is over and the Yankees could make quite a splash in next year's draft.