Yankees chairman Hal Steinbrenner appeared on the Yankees Information & Views podcast at present and host Jack Curry of the YES Community requested him about the potential of extending celebrity outfielder Juan Soto. The YES Community shared a video clip on X.
“I feel we’d prefer to see him right here for the remainder of his profession,” Steinbrenner mentioned. “I don’t suppose there’s any doubt of that.” He goes on to say that Scott Boras, Soto’s agent, doesn’t usually do extensions midseason. Steinbrenner says he typically prefers to keep away from talks through the season as nicely in order that they don’t turn into a distraction, however that Soto is a particular case.
That’s on account of Soto’s apparent abilities but in addition since he’s solely been a Yankee for a couple of months, having been acquired from the Padres in December with only one season left to go earlier than he’s slated to succeed in free company. Steinbrenner mentioned he needed to offer Soto a while to get to know the group earlier than entering into talks about long-term plans. “I wouldn’t be shocked if there was a dialog or two had, presumably through the course of the season.”
Within the latter half of the clip shared above, Curry relays that he contacted Boras about what Steinbrenner mentioned. Boras mentioned he’s at all times prepared to speak to Steinbrenner however that Soto is targeted on profitable.
Soto himself was requested concerning the feedback after this afternoon’s sport and echoed what Boras mentioned, with the YES Community sharing a clip on X of these as nicely. “My door is at all times open,” Soto mentioned. “Every time he desires to start out speaking with Scott and all his folks, they’re at all times open. They’re at all times open to listen to no matter he has. And for me, I simply concentrate on the sport proper now.”
The subject of Soto’s future free company, or an extension to stop that free company from taking place, has been a subject of dialog for fairly a very long time. That’s on account of how he debuted at such an unusually younger age and likewise on account of him discovering speedy success that he has maintained or improved. Soto debuted with the Nationals in 2018 when he was solely 19 years outdated. He hit 22 dwelling runs in 116 video games whereas drawing walks in 16% his plate appearances. His .292/.406/.517 batting line translated to a 146 wRC+.
He’s by no means supplied a lot by way of pace or protection, however his mixture of energy and plate self-discipline is outstanding and has remained fairly constant. He at present has 169 dwelling runs in his profession and an 18.7% stroll charge, whereas hanging out simply 16.9% of the time. He has slashed .286/.420/.525 total and has a 155 wRC+, which features a .310/.408/.530 line and 170 wRC+ as a Yankee this yr.
These expertise and his age put him heading in the right direction for an enormous contract. Most free brokers attain free company for the primary time within the neighborhood of their thirtieth birthday however Soto continues to be simply 25. He’ll flip 26 on October 25, simply earlier than he’s slated to hit the open market.
The truth that Steinbrenner is excited about an extension is considerably notable for the reason that membership doesn’t do them fairly often. MLBTR’s Contract Tracker reveals that they’ve executed simply three previously decade, which had been for Luis Severino, Aaron Hicks and Aroldis Chapman. These offers didn’t go particularly nicely for probably the most half and the membership will not be thrilled at doing extra extensions basically, however Soto is clearly in a unique stratosphere than these gamers. That Steinbrenner is prepared to make an exception right here is unsurprising, however really getting it executed received’t be low cost.
Again in 2022, the Nationals reportedly provided Soto $440MM over 15 years. When he rejected that overture, they determined to commerce him as an alternative, which is how he got here to be a Padre. Whereas that could be an enormous sum to depart on the desk, he’s already earned himself a good chunk of that. Since turning down that deal, he made $23MM final yr and is making $31MM this yr, his remaining two arbitration seasons. Meaning any contract larger than $386MM will show that he made a smart monetary determination in turning it down.
Final month, Boras revealed that the late Peter Seidler tried to get a deal executed to maintain Soto in San Diego. Nonetheless, Seidler’s deteriorating well being acquired in the best way of the talks and he handed away in November. The following month, Soto was traded to the Yankees because the Padres’ monetary scenario pressured them to make finances cuts.
Retaining Soto away from the open market is clearly going to be a problem. Yankees’ normal supervisor Brian Cashman admitted as a lot in February. “The chances are this can be a one-year scenario,” he mentioned. “I don’t see too many issues stopping him from reaching free company.”
There was every kind of hypothesis about what sort of quantity it might take to get Soto’s signature on a contract. The spherical variety of $500MM is usually thrown round as a speculative ballpark determine, however that’s actually only a guess.
Since Soto is now just some months away from the open market, there’s little incentive for him to simply accept something besides free company costs. The biggest contract in MLB historical past is Shohei Ohtani’s latest ten-year, $700MM pact with the Dodgers. The heavy deferrals on the deal make the web current worth nearer to the $435-465MM vary, although that adjusted determine nonetheless makes it the biggest ever, each by way of complete assure and common annual worth.
Soto clearly doesn’t have the two-way talents of Ohtani nor the identical worldwide advertising energy, however Ohtani is now 29 and about to show 30, which means Soto might be advertising three to 4 additional prime years in comparison with Shohei. That youth is clearly useful to groups, as was not too long ago seen with the Yoshinobu Yamamoto free company. Going into his age-25 season, he drew widespread curiosity regardless of having no main league expertise. He finally shattered expectations when he signed for $325MM over 12 years, plus a posting price of over $50MM.
The Yankees have lengthy been one of many greatest spenders in baseball, however they’ve a good amount of cash on the books already. Between Aaron Choose, Gerrit Cole, Giancarlo Stanton and Carlos Rodón, they’ve 4 gamers making $25MM or extra by way of 2027 or longer. The Marlins are paying down a little bit of Stanton’s deal however the Yankees have already got virtually $150MM dedicated to books three years down the road, per Roster Useful resource.
For a generational expertise like Soto, they possible wouldn’t care a lot about including one other big contract to the pile. Nonetheless, Boras would possibly wish to wait a couple of extra months to see what groups just like the Mets, Dodgers, Blue Jays, Pink Sox, Phillies or others have to supply. Getting them to the desk would improve the probabilities of a bidding conflict driving up costs and the Yanks may need to place down an enormous quantity to cease that from taking place.
