New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto has been the best offseason acquisition on the team by a country mile. In fact, he is right up there with Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the unofficial title of most impactful offseason move by any squad.
Soto has revitalized an extremely Aaron Judge-centered Yankees lineup and has made it a two-headed monster. The All-Star is hitting a cool .293/.420/.585 with 37 home runs, 96 RBI, 110 runs scored, 110 walks and an elite 1.005 OPS. Opposing lineups face a nightmare every time the Yankees’ second and third hitters are up, and there is no escaping that nightmare.
As we all know, Soto is going to be a free agent after the World Series. It’s a moment he has been waiting for years, and no contract offer extension was good enough to entice him.
The Yankees will have to pay more than they are comfortable with
He reportedly rejected $350 million and $440 million contract extensions by the Washington Nationals back in 2022. That’s why it is widely assumed that the number to secure his services will, at the very least, start with $500 million. How much more than that should the tax-conscious Yankees offer?
Whatever it takes. That’s the short answer. And to their disappointment, it should be significantly more than $500 million with the financially powerful New York Mets lurking.
Tim Britton of The Athletic makes a fascinating financial exercise to try and predict how much Soto could get in the open market. The numbers are exorbitant.
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“Soto could aim for a 14-year deal at, say, Judge’s $40 million per season; that would get him to $560 million total. Or he could go for both records with something like a 12-year deal at $45 million per season, for $540 million total,” he wrote.
The Yankees will have to, once again, splash the cash. They already have several pricy long-term commitments: Judge, Gerrit Cole, Giancarlo Stanton and Carlos Rodon are some of them. But Soto is a generational talent they simply can’t afford to lose if they want to consistently contend in the next decade.