Yankees chairman Hal Steinbrenner appeared on the Yankees Information & Views podcast at this time and host Jack Curry of the YES Community requested him about the potential for 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 throughout the season as effectively in order that they don’t turn out to be a distraction, however that Soto is a particular case.
That’s resulting from Soto’s apparent skills but in addition since he’s solely been a Yankee for just a few 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 wished to provide 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, probably throughout 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 all the time prepared to speak to Steinbrenner however that Soto is concentrated on successful.
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 effectively. “My door is all the time open,” Soto mentioned. “Every time he needs to start out speaking with Scott and all his individuals, they’re all the time open. They’re all the time open to listen to no matter he has. And for me, I simply give attention to the sport proper now.”
The subject of Soto’s future free company, or an extension to forestall 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 resulting from him discovering instant success that he has maintained or improved. Soto debuted with the Nationals in 2018 when he was solely 19 years previous. 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 offered a lot by way of pace or protection, however his mixture of energy and plate self-discipline is phenomenal and has remained fairly constant. He presently has 169 dwelling runs in his profession and an 18.7% stroll fee, whereas putting 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 12 months.
These expertise and his age put him on target for a large contract. Most free brokers attain free company for the primary time within the neighborhood of their thirtieth birthday however Soto remains 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 enthusiastic about an extension is considerably notable because the membership doesn’t do them fairly often. MLBTR’s Contract Tracker reveals that they’ve finished simply three previously decade, which had been for Luis Severino, Aaron Hicks and Aroldis Chapman. These offers didn’t go particularly effectively for essentially the most half and the membership might not be thrilled at doing extra extensions typically, however Soto is clearly in a special stratosphere than these gamers. That Steinbrenner is prepared to make an exception right here is unsurprising, however truly getting it finished received’t be low-cost.
Again in 2022, the Nationals reportedly supplied Soto $440MM over 15 years. When he rejected that overture, they determined to commerce him as a substitute, which is how he got here to be a Padre. Whereas which may be a large 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 12 months and is making $31MM this 12 months, his last two arbitration seasons. Which means 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 finished to maintain Soto in San Diego. Nevertheless, Seidler’s deteriorating well being bought in the way in which of the talks and he handed away in November. The subsequent month, Soto was traded to the Yankees because the Padres’ monetary state of affairs compelled them to make funds 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 it is a one-year state of affairs,” 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 commonly thrown round as a speculative ballpark determine, however that’s actually only a guess.
Since Soto is now only a few 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 current 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 most important ever, each by way of whole 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, that means Soto will likely be advertising three to 4 additional prime years in comparison with Shohei. That youth is clearly precious to groups, as was lately 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 charge 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 nearly $150MM dedicated to books three years down the road, per Roster Useful resource.
For a generational expertise like Soto, they seemingly wouldn’t care a lot about including one other large contract to the pile. Nonetheless, Boras would possibly need to wait just a few extra months to see what groups just like the Mets, Dodgers, Blue Jays, Crimson Sox, Phillies or others have to supply. Getting them to the desk would enhance the possibilities of a bidding battle driving up costs and the Yanks may need to place down an enormous quantity to cease that from taking place.