RECRUITMENT: Yankees Recruit High Rated Shortstop From Mets
As of the final week of August, there was no indication that New York Yankees All-Star outfielder Juan Soto would sign an extension with the team before entering free agency at the end of the current season.
In a column published by ESPN on Tuesday, New York Mets shortstop effectively agreed that Soto’s camp should expect to hear from big-spending team owner Steve Cohen sometime this fall.
“When it comes to the outfielder from across our borough,” Lindor said of Soto during a conversation with ESPN MLB expert Jeff Passan. “He’s having a terrific year, and I hope he goes out there and breaks every record out there when it comes to getting paid. If it is with us, it will be amazing. He will be a great help to us.”
Yankees skipper Aaron Judge is said to be unconcerned with the team offering Soto a contract worth more per year than the nine-year, $360 million deal Judge signed to continue with the organisation in December 2022, but that doesn’t mean the 25-year-old is guaranteed to stay with the Bronx Bombers.
Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner has warned that the team’s payroll is “not sustainable” because to luxury-tax fines, and this was before Soto hit 37 home runs in 129 games.
“At the end of the day, high-ranking front office and ownership-level sources believe the winter for Soto is going to play out like this: Yankees vs. Mets,” Passan told me. “…the statistics shows that once a player reaches 30, his career is likely to deteriorate. So getting a superstar for four complete seasons before turning 30 — and doing so without having to give up assets in a trade — makes him the ideal Mets target.”
The Mets followed a disappointing 2023 season with an offseason that appeared underwhelming on paper. They started this season slowly, with a 22-33 record, but managed to turn things around during the summer. As of Wednesday morning, they held a 69-63 record, sitting three games behind in the race for the National League’s final wild-card playoff spot.
If Juan Soto is serious about resetting the market for sluggers, his next contract could land him between $500M and $600M over a 10-12 year period. According to Chris Kirschner of The Athletic, Yankees manager Aaron Boone recently commented that he believes Soto “has enjoyed being here, likes being part of this group, and is a significant voice in our clubhouse.”
It remains uncertain, however, whether Soto’s enjoyment of his time with the Yankees will be enough for him to offer the team any kind of discount before Christmas.