The Yankees wanted to limit their bid on Gerrit Cole to eight years. They could have stayed there and hoped the right-hander — raised in Orange County, Calif. — wouldn’t really enlist with the suspect Angels or accept a Dodgers proposal littered with deferrals.

But Hal Steinbrenner badly wanted an ace, feeling it was the missing piece to a championship team. Thus, rather than try to suss out whether there was a bluff being perpetuated, he authorized going to nine years. He knew that — in conjunction with the largest per-annum value ever ($36 million) — would cement a deal.

My hunch is Steinbrenner feels the same way about retaining Aaron Judge. That if he has to add, for example, a year to an offer to retain his star, that he will do so.

Thus, I think there are only two ways Judge can be pried from the Yankees: