There is little reason to believe that Juan Soto won’t thrive with the New York Yankees in 2024, furthering his cause to receive one of the biggest contracts in MLB history next offseason.
Thus, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner will have to step up and essentially open the checkbook to keep Soto in the Bronx for the rest of his career. While there is some doubt within the fanbase that Steinbrenner would pay Soto what he commands, there is at least one analyst who thinks it will happen.
The Athletic’s Jim Bowden, a former general manager, wrote Monday that the Yankees will extend Soto for 14 years at $501 million “as they outbid the Mets by a million to keep him.”
Imagine? The rivalry between the two New York teams has been tepid at best in recent seasons because the Mets haven’t exactly been a juggernaut, reaching the playoffs once in the past seven seasons. But if Steinbrenner beats Mets owner Steve Cohen for Soto? The juice will be back.
In all likelihood, the Yankees and Mets will be contenders for Soto next offseason — the Mets operating with a cleaner payroll and aiming to restart a contention window and the Yankees wanting to team Soto and Aaron Judge through 2031, the last year of Judge’s nine-year, $360 million deal.
Steinbrenner would have to pay a lot more for Soto than he did for Judge, and MLB sources told NJ Advance Media’s Randy Miller they thought it was doubtful to happen. But NJAM’s Bob Klapisch wrote this offseason that he saw Judge sending a signal that he’d be OK with Soto earning the bigger salary because it would mean a better chance at winning.
While Soto has not disclosed his long-term preference, it’s clear that he will seek the biggest deal; the outfielder’s agent is Scott Boras, the game’s toughest negotiator, and Soto rejected a 15-year, $440 million offer from the Nationals in 2022, according to reports.
Before that, though, let’s watch what the Yankees and their fans hope is more than 162 games of Soto in…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply