Hal Steinbrenner made waves last week when he said in a podcast that he wanted Juan Soto to be with the New York Yankees for the rest of his career and he would love to start discussions now.
While the sentiment could be part of the owner’s negotiating tactics, there was seemingly little to gain by making his feelings public — aside from letting MLB know he loves Soto, which isn’t exactly groundbreaking. Scott Boras is Soto’s agent, and the former’s playbook utilizes the market to dictate a player’s value.
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Still, it got people around baseball talking: Could the Yankees actually sign Soto now? It could happen, but it’ll require patience.
“There’s no chance,” an American League executive told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand in a story published Tuesday. “I think he ultimately signs back with the Yankees, but Scott takes his guys into free agency.”
The executive made another good point, one that wasn’t necessarily true of the top Boras clients from the 2023 offseason — Jordan Montgomery (who has changed agents), Matt Chapman, Blake Snell, J.D. Martinez and Cody Bellinger, all of whom had to settle for less money and years than forecasted.
“A 25-year-old Juan Soto has to hit free agency regardless of the agent,” the AL executive said.
Soto is set to hit free agency for the first time, and he’ll do it in his age-26 season, with prime years ahead. He is not only one of the best hitters in the game, he’s an inner circle Hall of Famer. The prudent move seems to be letting teams compete with each other in the offseason to drive the highest contract. How many teams will be willing to spend $500-plus million on a long-term deal? Probably not enough, but the Steve Cohen-owned Mets are likely to be one.
Boras told the YES Network’s Jack Curry he’d be “happy to talk with Hal,” but that doesn’t guarantee anything at this point.
Soto is batting .316/.415/.551 with 11 home runs and 37 RBIs. His 172 OPS+, 72% better than league average, would be the third-best of his career, including the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
