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A wise man once said, “you get what you pay for.”
This offseason, the eyes of the baseball will be on free agent Juan Soto and exactly how much the winning bidder will pay for the 26-year-old All-Star who slugged the New York Yankees to the World Series with a tenth-inning home run Saturday night in Cleveland.
The New York Post’s Jon Heyman reported the new “whisper number” for Soto is $600 million. That would make it the second-highest contract in the game’s history behind Shohei Ohtani’s massive $700 million deal signed last year.
A unicorn of sorts in that he is a free agent in the prime of his career and coming off the best season of an already acclaimed career.
Soto delivered career highs in home runs (41), hits (166), and runs (128). Those 128 hits also led the American League.
That he came through with the biggest hit of his Yankees tenure when the team needed it, cashing their ticket to the World Series and giving the Bronx Bombers their first opportunity to compete for the most coveted prize in professional baseball, only accentuated how significant a year he has had and how much he will command when he hits the market.
The New York Yankees will figure to have the inside edge on retaining Soto’s services for years to come but will not be without competition. ESPN’s Buster Olney has already expressed his belief that the right-fielder will sign with the across-town Mets on his Baseball Tonight podcast.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that the Phillies are expected to bid on Soto, too. As are the Toronto Blue Jays.
There will be plenty of teams that are close on money or outright have the funds to make the deal happen and, if Heyman’s reported number is in fact the starting point for any deal that Soto puts pen to paper on, he will have earned every dollar of it.
In a season when he had plenty to prove after a stint in San Diego that did not go as he or ownership expected, he excelled and has the Yankees ready to add another World Series title to the most decorated organization in MLB.
Whether the championship experience and career highs are enough to convince Soto to come back to the Yankees, or if a high-dollar paycheck from the Mets or any other potential suitor is enough to lure him away, is the question.
