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New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto is the top free agent available and is only 26 years old.
Soto will likely sign a deal around 13 or more years which will lead to a massive deal. His projections have ranged in the 600-700 million range. But, David Brown of Deadspin has Soto signing a 13-year $702 million deal in free agency with the Yankees.
“Soto set himself up for the biggest payday in MLB history after batting .288 with a .419 on-base percentage and .569 slugging for the Yankees in 2024,” Brown wrote. “Not to mention a career-best 41 home runs, 129 walks, a league-leading 128 runs scored, and 109 RBIs.
“And Soto didn’t even turn 26 until October when he helped lead the Yankees to their first World Series since 2009. Even if he doesn’t eclipse $700 million, the value of his contract almost certainly will exceed Shohei Ohtani’s heavily deferred deal,” Brown added.
If Soto exceeds $700 million it would be a massive deal, but the star outfielder will likely get teams involved in a bidding war. The New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays have also shown interest in the star outfielder which should drive up the price.
Soto hit .288 with 41 home runs and 109 RBIs in 157 games with the Yankees in 2024.
Yankees Have Meeting Set With Soto’s Agent
Soto is the top free agent and his agent Scott Boras has set up meetings with several teams.
Boras is expected to meet with the Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox, Mets, and Yankees in California. The exact dates of the meetings are not certain.
“Juan knows who the Yankees are, and he’s certainly impressed and pleased,” Boras said. “He went to the World Series with them, which is a tremendous accomplishment. But to truly understand what ownership thinks and what the Yankees’ future plan is.
“Any player in his situation would want to hear about that. And with the respect he has for the New York Yankees, I know he’s going to want to be very thorough in this process,” Boras added.
Soto has taken a bit of time before he makes his decision. But, after Boars meets with the teams a decision should come soon thereafter.
Yankees Focused on Re-Signing Soto
New York’s top free goal in free agency is to re-sign Soto.
Soto is one of the best players in baseball and at the GM Meetings, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said his goal was to re-sign Soto. He says New York will put its best foot forward to re-sign the star outfielder.
“I had a conversation with (agent) Scott Boras yesterday,” Cashman said… “We certainly have an interest in retaining him and we’ll put our best foot forward there. But at the same time, that’ll either lead to us retaining him and signing him back. Or we’ll be forced to go in a different direction if we can’t. If we can’t, there’s a lot of different players in this marketplace that can positively impact this roster.”
Soto hit .327 with 4 home runs and 9 RBIs in the playoffs with the Yankees.
In his career, Soto is a four-time All-Star and five-time Silver Slugger winner. He also won the World Series with the Washington Nationals in 2019.
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