The bids for Yankees star Juan Soto are in, and while we do not have firm numbers on where this thing is heading, the contours of the star slugger’s free-agency process certainly indicate that whatever potential salaries were being lobbed out just months ago are comparatively puny. Soto is set for an absurd payday.
Yes, it was not long ago that jaws dropped at the notion of Soto, a great hitter but not much of a defender and certainly not a demon on the basepaths, cracking the $500 million mark. Just a year ago, Shohei Ohtani was given a massive $700 million contract from the Dodgers, which was justified by the fact that Ohtani is also an excellent pitcher (once he returns from Tommy John surgery) and a very good baserunner.
Soto hit .288 last season and remained one of the most patient hitters in the game, logging an on-base percentage of .419 to go with his .569 slugging percentage. He knocked a career-high 41 homers at Yankee Stadium and scored a league-best 128 runs. But not going to pitch. And he’s not going to be anything more than an average fielder and a subpar baserunner.
Juan Soto Has a ‘Perfect Storm of Bidding’
Still, at ESPN, the sober-minded veteran insider Buster Olney says that Soto is about to cash in on a contract hitherto unimaginable. Because the Yankees and Mets are directly involved in the bidding, and they’re among the wealthiest teams in MLB, signing Soto was always going to be expensive.
But adding a Red Sox team that has money and a real need to get back in the mix as a free-agent destination, as well as two other teams with serious cash reserves–the Dodgers and the Blue Jays–has sent the bidding to the stratosphere.
Olney sees Soto not only breaking the $700 million record that Ohtani just set, but shattering it at $750 million.
$750 million.
“It’s a perfect storm of bidding, and through the use of deferrals, it does not seem out of the realm of possibility that the broad strokes of his deal could be something in the range of $750 million over 15 years,” Olney wrote this week.
ESPN cohort Jeff Passan noted, “It’s an enormous number. It could include deferred money. But less than a year after Shohei Ohtani signed a $700 million contract that shattered the previous record by nearly $275 million, Soto might exceed it.”
Yankees, Red Sox & Mets the Top Picks?
While nothing has emerged that indicates that the Dodgers and Blue Jays are not still involved, Olney does see this is as Mets-Yankees-Red Sox battle.
He writes: “Soto’s handling of this negotiation is playing out like one of his plate appearances — an extended process, with him thoroughly processing everything that the teams are throwing at him, from their long-term plans to the state of their farm systems to how they intend to allocate payroll in the years ahead.
“The choices are distinct. He knows from personal experience that Aaron Judge can provide coverage for him, in the lineup and in the clubhouse. The future possibilities for the Mets seem boundless, because of owner Steve Cohen’s wealth, but they have to construct a pipeline of pitching. Signing with the Red Sox would mean that he’d get to spend the rest of his career playing in a ballpark that augments greatness in left-handed hitters, from Ted Williams to Carl Yastrzemski to David Ortiz to Rafael Devers — although one evaluator notes that Soto could thrive in any ballpark.”
It’s still unknown, but Soto’s decision could come in the next two days, possibly on Sunday, the day before the start of the Winter Meetings.
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Yankees Juan Soto to Sign for $750 Million in Wild ESPN Prediction